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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27382642">Must Kill Sunny</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chaneque/pseuds/Chaneque'>Chaneque</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Must Kill Sunny [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Original Work</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Awkward Romance, Eventual Romance, F/F, Gen, I'm Bad At Tagging, Magic, Modern Era, Mystery, Original Fiction, Other, Romance, Slow Burn, Urban Fantasy, Witches, bildungsroman</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-04</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2021-03-08</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-06 18:47:50</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Mature</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>5</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>46,624</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27382642</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chaneque/pseuds/Chaneque</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>An amnesiac woman, her daughter Sunny, the witch protecting them and the people chasing after them.<br/>Must Kill Sunny is a romance rag disguised as a mystery light novel disguised as a witch YA story.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>Must Kill Sunny [1]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/2000305</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>9</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. Jane Doe</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>An explosion in a tiny, rural Ohio town is investigated by local police, with the only witnesses being an albino woman with amnesia and her daughter Sunny.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Author's Note: RTF messed up my formatting.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <h1>Jane Doe</h1><p> </p><p>The lieutenant rubbed his face, distorting his stubbled features for a moment, yawning. An eager-looking officer approached, clutching a notepad. “Lieutenant!” The young officer shouted, tripping in the snow a bit. “Ah- Lieutenant Rudd. You’re here! I took some notes; I know you like to be briefed-“ The detective cut the officer with a distracting wave.</p><p>“Coffee. I need coffee. It’s five in the morning, Bill. This is supposed to be a gas main explosion, why am I here?”</p><p>“Ah, well it’s a bit more than that. Forensics guys are saying it’s burning too hot to be just the gas main, like there was some sort of accelerant used. Sabotage,” The young officer said, still excited about the action and mystery. “Still burning, too!” He jabbed a finger towards the huge pyre in the distance, cordoned off by the small fleet of emergency vehicles surrounding it, “You’re here to question the witnesses. As for the coffee, I think they have some over with them.” He nodded towards the pair of ambulances parked in the distance. Lieutenant Rudd looked into the sky, letting the snow fall into his face for a moment before trudging towards the ambulances.</p><p>“The witnesses?” he asked, and Bill looked down at his notebook.</p><p>“Adult female, early to mid twenties, no ID, about six feet, cauc- well, I think she’s Caucasian,” He looked back up at the detective’s quizzical expression, “Oh, uh, she’s an albino. White hair, skin, the whole kit and caboodle.” He answered. “Other witness is a little girl, about five, blonde-brown hair, curly. We found her under the woman; we’re guessing she was shielding her. Remains of three other people, completely toasted. Coroner’s here but…there’s not much left. Again, seems more than just a gas main explosion.”</p><p>“Just a supposition, Bill.” He said, finally closing in on the ambulance, an EMT approaching. “I’m here to interview the witnesses.” Lieutenant Rudd pushed past the EMT, not waiting for her to speak. He approached the woman the officer had described, sitting in the back of the back of the ambulance, a thin blanket wrapped around her and a paper cup of coffee in her hands. She squinted through heavy-lidded eyes at the detective, white hair tumbling down her shoulders in thick, flat ribbons, slightly singed at the tips. “This the Jane Doe?” Rudd asked the junior officer offhandedly, not waiting for an answer. “What’s your name, miss?”</p><p>“My name?” The woman said hoarsely, staring at the detective through half-closed eyes. “Uh…I don’t. I don’t remember…” She drifted off, looking back down at her coffee.</p><p>“What do you remember, then?” The man responded exasperatedly.</p><p>“I don’t- well, I’m not sure. I don’t remember anything. There was an explosion, but...before that, I don't remember anything at all-” She set her coffee aside and put her head in her hands, raking her fingers across her scalp. Rudd picked up the cup and drank from it, smacking his teeth in a mix of disgust and satisfaction.</p><p>“Fantastic.” He turned to the officer, “This one’s a total head case, Bill, bring the kid.” The EMT began to protest as Bill walked off towards the other ambulance nearby, but the detective held up a hand to cut her off, and she was cowed into silence.</p><p>Bill appeared shortly thereafter, a blonde little girl in tow, wrapped in a knit sweater and another blanket. Upon seeing the albino woman, she dropped the blanket and ran towards her. “Mommy!” She buried her face in the woman’s leg, who looked shocked for a moment, before gently patting the girl on the head, reaching down and lifting her up to sit on the back of the ambulance next to her. The girl squeezed her little arms around the woman, who awkwardly wrapped her in the blanket around her shoulders for warmth.</p><p>“So this is your kid, huh?” The detective asked, met with a blank expression and a halfhearted shrug from the albino. Stooping a bit to level with the child, he took another sip of the stale coffee. “Hey kid, what’s your name?” The child looked up at the Jane Doe for reassurance, and, finding only a confused look in return, nestled closer to the woman and responded quietly, looking down and speaking into the wrinkled black shirt of the amnesiac.</p><p>“Sunny.” She responded curtly.</p><p>“And this is your mother?” The detective asked.</p><p>“Yeah.”</p><p>“And what’s her name?”</p><p>Sunny looked up at the woman, before looking down again quickly, “Mommy.” The detective drained the cup of coffee and let out an exasperated sigh, crumpling the paper cup in his hand. “Okay, how old are you?”</p><p>Sunny held up four fingers, before adding “And a half,” to the assessment of her age.</p><p>“And what about your daddy? Do you know where we can find him?”</p><p>The girl shook her head. “I don’t know my daddy.” She said quietly, burying her face into the Jane Doe’s abdomen. “I’m tired.” She said, a tiny hand clawing up towards the albino woman’s face for reassurance.</p><p>“Yeah, me too kid, but I want to ask you some more things-” Rudd is cut off by officer Billy tapping on his shoulder.</p><p>“Detective, someone’s here to see you. Think she’s a fed.” He said, the excitement in his voice replaced by a tired, dizzy tone. A woman was approaching, in full suit and tie, tightly braided hair and high-heeled boots, producing a small folding wallet and opening it in front of Rudd.</p><p>“Federal Agent.” She declared imperiously, the lieutenant scrutinizing the wallet for a moment before looking back at the woman.</p><p>“Why are you here?” He said, sounding slightly dazed as the woman folded the wallet back up and stuffed it in her pocket. “To question the witnesses, detective.” She stated in the same demanding tone.</p><p>“But there’s no need, they’re both-”</p><p>“I’m going to take them to the diner up the road to talk to them.” She interrupted, before offering a hand to the albino woman. The Jane Doe reluctantly accepted, pulling the half-asleep Sunny off the back of the ambulance with her.</p><p>“Wait, we haven’t finished their examinations yet,” The EMT protested.</p><p>“I’ll be back with them soon.” The agent placed a hand on the EMT’s shoulder and made heavy eye contact. “Don’t worry about them. I’ll be back with answers.” She said in a kind tone, before putting her arms around the Jane Doe and Sunny, bringing them to the side of the road nearby, where a black sedan waited for them. She opened the front passenger door, and Jane entered, placing the near-catatonic Sunny on her lap. The agent climbed into the diver’s seat and started the car, pulling onto the road proper.</p><p>“My name’s Nicole, by the way.” She said, looking at the albino, smiling warmly.</p><p>“I’m Jane Doe, I guess.” The amnesiac responded, which was met with a gentle laugh.</p><p>“Jane Doe’s a name they give unidentified women, dear,” Nicole responded, “But Jane will have to do for the time being. You don’t remember anything?” She asked. Jane balked at the question for a moment.</p><p>“Wait, how did you know that? You weren’t there for the questions that man was asking…” She said. Nicole chose not to answer.</p><p>“Guess we should save the questions for when you’ve got some food in you, Jane Doe.”</p><p> </p><p>A Buddy Holly song played over the little radio in the diner, the tinny sound echoing around the empty shop, save for Jane, Sunny, and across the table from them, Nicole, in a booth by the window. Jane squinted down at the menu, with Sunny leaning into the table, sleepily drawing with crayons on her paper menu. A waitress approached, clicking her pen anxiously.</p><p>"I’ll have the ‘All-American’ breakfast with a side of cheesy grits and some black coffee,” Nicole began before the waitress even opened her mouth. She looked slightly taken aback but wrote it down.</p><p>“What’ll you have, sweetie?” The waitress asked Sunny.</p><p>“Pancakes! And juice!”</p><p>“Alright then,” The woman looked over at Jane, who was glaring at the menu, her nose almost touching the laminated paper.</p><p>“And what’ll you be having, miss?”</p><p>“I can’t read this.”</p><p>“Pardon?”</p><p>Jane nodded towards Nicole from across the table. “I’ll just have the same as her. Except, juice instead of coffee. I don’t think I like coffee.”</p><p>The waitress scribbled down her order, “I’ll be back with your drinks in a minute.” She said, turning around, kitten heels clacking against the linoleum floors as she walked back into the kitchen.</p><p>“So you can’t read either, huh?” Nicole asked. Jane buried her head in her hands, running her hands across her scalp. She began nervously tapping her foot under the table, shaking it slightly.</p><p>“I can read!” Sunny declared proudly.</p><p>Nicole smiled, “That’s great, Sunny! I couldn’t actually read until I was five, so you're way ahead of me.” Jane stopped tapping her foot.</p><p>“There it is again. You know things you weren’t there for. Who are you?” She demanded, instinctively pulling Sunny closer.</p><p>“Well, I’m a specialist in this sort of thing, you see.” Nicole began.</p><p>“So you’re with the government?”</p><p>“Not exactly…” Nicole said, toying with one of her tightly bound braids that had fallen into her face. “I was sort of fibbing when I told that cop I was a federal agent.”</p><p>“So you’re a liar.” Jane said, gripping Sunny’s shoulder.</p><p>“Only to the cops. Trust me, Jane,” She looked into her eyes and gently placed a hand on her wrist. “I will not coerce you or Sunny into anything you don’t want. I’m just here to ensure your well-being.” The waitress returned, placing a cup off coffee in front of Nicole and two cups of apple juice in front of Jane and Sunny. Jane pulled away from Nicole, and thanked the waitress.</p><p>“Mm-hmm, your food’ll be out in a minute, alright?” She retreated back into the kitchen, glancing furtively at the women in the booth. Nicole leaned back and sipped her coffee, while Sunny greedily drank her juice. Jane stared at the cup in front of her, her narrow eyes occasionally flicking back up to meet Nicole’s. Her foot started tapping on the linoleum again, worn leather boots softly creaking under the table.</p><p>“Do you know who I am, then?” Jane asked, a little desperation in her voice. “If you know everything, can you tell me who I am?”</p><p>“I don’t know who you are, Jane. I’m sorry, truthfully.”</p><p>“Then what <em>can</em> you tell me?”</p><p>“Well…there’s a lot I could tell you, but let me give you the basics. It’s six-thirty in the morning, on December twenty-seventh, nineteen ninety-nine. You’re in a little pit stop town called Outwood, Ohio, population thirty-two. Closest big city is Akron. There’s not a lot of property on this stretch of highway, aside from a few old houses close to the gas station down the road, this diner, and a few local businesses. An explosion wrecked a few of the houses on the outskirts, authorities say it was a gas main explosion.”</p><p>Sunny’s hand shot up in the air “I have a question!” she said. Nicole offered a good-natured smile and gentle, musical laugh.</p><p>“Yes, you in front, with the golden hair and pretty sweater.”</p><p>Sunny giggled a bit at the mild compliment, before trying to put on her most serious and intellectual face. “What’s a gas main Miss Nicole?”</p><p>“A gas main is a pipe that moves gas along the state, and other little pipes move the gas into houses to keep them warm during the winter. Since gas can make fires, a big pipe like a gas main can blow up, and make a big fire, like it did with your house.”</p><p>“Yes. Okay.” Sunny nodded knowingly, trying to hide how little of that she understood and taking another sip of her juice. She stopped, her expression dropping. “So does that mean we can’t go home anymore?”</p><p>“I’m afraid not, Sunny.” Nicole answered. “But if you want, I can help you and your mom find you a new home.” Jane tensed up, eyeing Nicole suspiciously. She took a breath to respond, but was interrupted by a tugging at her sleeve. She looked down at Sunny, who was squirming a little.</p><p>“Mommy, I need to use the bathroom.” Jane took a moment to respond.</p><p>“O-okay, well…do you really need me for that?” Sunny just nodded at her pleadingly, before scooting out of the booth and dancing in place a bit. Jane slid from the booth and stood next to her, leading her towards the restrooms, and staring at the doors for a bit, seeing pictograms depicting two people, one with a triangle for a body and the other a rectangle.</p><p>“Um…which one is the bathroom?” She said, looking down at the child desperately. Sunny pointed at the triangular person, and Jane pushed open the door. Sunny bolted for one of the stalls, and Jane closed it behind her before looking around at her surroundings. She approached the bathroom mirror, flecked and stained with soap and water, and leaned forward, squinting to make out her own features.</p><p>‘<em>This is my first time actually seeing my own face</em>’ she thought to herself, inspecting the mirror closely. She had rather high cheekbones, and an angular face, slightly gaunt from hunger and exhaustion. Her hair hung in flat ribbons of thick, ashen white. A softly pointed nose, dry but well-shaped lips, and a strong, pointed chin with light frown lines around her mouth made up her lower face. She saw two dots on her cheeks, one below each eye, which looked like black freckles or moles. She prodded them to get some idea of their texture, and found smooth skin. Tattoos? She tried to think of tattoos she’d seen, but could only recall more foggy nothingness. “Damn, what are these?” She tried to rub them to see if they’d come off, but nothing happened. She was interrupted by the toilet flushing, and Sunny waddling out of the stall, struggling to button her pants. When she finally succeeded, she huffed proudly, approaching the sink.</p><p>“Excuse me mommy, I have to wash my hands,” She stated matter-of-factly, “Also, you shouldn’t say bad words like that.” She struggled to reach the soap, until Jane picked her up by the armpits and held the child in front of her. “Thanks mom.” She said, beginning to wash her hands dutifully.</p><p>“Sunny?”</p><p>“Yes?”</p><p>“Do you know what these are under my eyes?”</p><p>“Your spots? I dunno but I think they’re pretty.”</p><p>Jane stared towards the mirror, looking at Sunny. Curly blonde hair, tan skin, strong nose, light brow, small lips…they looked nothing alike. “Maybe you take after your father…” She thought out loud.</p><p>Sunny flicked her hands and turned the faucet off. “All done!” Jane let her back down onto the floor, and she grabbed a wad of paper towels from the wall dispenser. “I’m going to go back to the table! Make sure to wash your hands before you eat, mommy.” She called out, swinging the door open and disappearing into the diner. Jane sighed and turned back to the mirror, beginning to wash her hands.</p><p>‘<em>Is it right to leave her with Nicole?</em>’ she wondered, her mind drifting to any of the scenarios filling her head. She shook the thoughts from her mind “Well, even if I don’t recognize her, my motherly instincts to protect her are still intact. She seems more responsible than me, for how young she is.” She said to herself aloud as she dried her hands, keeping a dry towel on her hand as she gripped the door handle of the restroom. ‘<em>Must be a habit from before...at least that’s a start to remembering anything.</em>’ She thought, swinging the door open and holding it with her foot, balling up the paper towel and tossing it into the garbage can before walking out into the diner lobby.</p><p> </p><p>Nicole and Sunny were engaged in some kind of deep conversation over their newly arrived plates of food, with Sunny speaking excitedly between mouthfuls of pancake. As she noticed Jane she again scooted out of the booth to let her in, before hopping back into her seat and stuffing more pancake in her mouth. Jane looked down at her plate, identical to Nicole’s; a single pancake, beans, sausage links, scrambled eggs, half a peach and a small bowl of grits with cheese. Jane realized how hungry she was and began scarfing down the eggs with small forkfuls of beans with no sense of decorum, as Sunny swallowed her latest bite of pancake and wiped her mouth with a napkin before speaking. “Miss Nicole was just telling me about the house we’re gonna live in! It’s gonna have stairs! I’m gonna have my own room on the top floor, and we won’t have to share a bed, I’m gonna have my own and my own stuffed animals! And we’ll have a big kitchen with an eye land in it!”</p><p>“Island.” Nicole corrected quietly.</p><p>Jane mumbled through a mouthful of pancake “Howe? Howm? Wherr?” She gulped down her mouthful and washed it down with her drink. “What’s this about a house? How would that even work?” Sunny pulled on her mother’s sleeve again and wiped the bean from Jane’s mouth. Nicole laughed again, her gentle, musical laugh drowning out the sound of the tinny radio for a moment. The sound made Jane feel better – better than the diner music, anyway.</p><p>“Your daughter has such good manners, she’s like a little grown-up. Can’t imagine where she learned it, though.” Her teasing was lost on Jane, who looked again at Sunny. She still didn’t recognize her at all.</p><p>‘<em>Who taught her to be so mature? Was I really strict? Doesn’t seem like what I’d do…but what </em>would<em> I do?</em>’ she wondered to herself, snapping out of it when Nicole reached across the table with her own napkin, wiping the other corner of Jane’s mouth.</p><p>“Missed a spot, Sunny. Your mom’s so messy, huh?” She said, sitting back and taking another sip of her coffee. Jane crossed her legs and looked down, blushing in embarrassment. Sunny nodded matter-of-factly again, a bit unstable, before yawning and leaning into Jane, her breathing becoming heavy as she drifted off a bit. Nicole looked at her for a moment and smiled at the girl, a tinge of sadness in her expression. “As for the house, you two can live with me in my apartment, in Boston, for a while at least, until we can find you two a nice quiet place in the suburbs.”</p><p>“What’s Boston?” Jane asked, pausing before shoveling another forkful into her mouth.</p><p>“A city way east of here, by the ocean. It’s a bit cold, but it’s a nice enough place. Plenty of history there, I’m sure Sunny would love it. Not as big as New York, but big enough to hide the two of you.”</p><p>“Why do we need to hide?” Jane further narrowed her already tight squint. Nicole sighed and put down her fork.</p><p>“Well, I want to be honest with you. Or, as honest as I can be. There are people after you, or, more specifically, Sunny.” Jane looked down at her daughter.</p><p>“Why?”</p><p>Nicole shook her head dramatically, “For the wrong reasons,” a response answered by an incredulous look from Jane. Nicole adjusted her tie. “I really can’t say <em>why</em>, but I do know that they’re behind the explosion that leveled the house. Or at least one of them was. That was no gas main explosion.”</p><p>“One of them?” Jane interrupted. “So what, a bunch of different people want Sunny? What’s going on?”</p><p>Nicole had a pained expression on her face, like she was trying to keep a harmful secret. “More like, different people competing to find her. Again, I can’t say what’s going on. Only that I can protect you and Sunny from them.” She reached forward again, but Jane pulled back. “Please, trust me Jane.” She smiled calmly, and continued in an even voice. “I can help you get a job if you want, you can meet people, Sunny can go to a nice school, you won’t be holed up out here in the boonies hiding from the people chasing you…I know you want to protect her, but you also want her to have a normal life, right? You’ll be able to do as you like and provide for her. I want to be able to protect you two…it’s my duty to protect you.”</p><p>Jane had another large spoonful of the runny bacon beans, making sure to chew and swallow carefully as she mulled over her thoughts. “So…is that what you meant by ‘specialist’? You can just...take care of people like us? Like Sunny? Thanks Nicole, you’re really sweet and all, but I don’t trust you with her life. Not yet. I want to be able to take care of her myself, or what kind of mother would I be?”</p><p>Nicole’s smile shrank by a few teeth, “Jane, you’ve got total retrograde amnesia, you’re stranded out in the middle of Ohio, you have no money, you’re hardly dressed for winter, you’re illiterate, and you just ate the bay leaf that was in your beans. I don’t know how much of a position you’re in to be raising a child without help.”</p><p>Jane gulped a bit. “You said you wouldn’t coerce us into any kind of decision. I may not remember anything but…” She looked out the window for a second, then back to Nicole. “You’re very kind, and you’re just about the only person that I know so far who hasn’t been rude or prodding. Besides Sunny, of course - and she seems to like you too. I just don’t think I can go with you…let Sunny go with you. I keep getting this feeling in my stomach, like a fly getting stuck in a spider’s net. Besides, my memory might come back,” she forced a cheerful expression onto her face, “After all, I just remembered what a spider is.”</p><p>“Remembering basic metaphors about animals does not a parent make, Jane. Are you positive this is what you want?”</p><p>Jane nodded.</p><p>“Alright then, I guess I can’t force you. Here,” Nicole pulled out a wallet, a different one from the one she had earlier. She ran her finger across the top of it and mouthed something to herself, before opening it and pulling out a thick wad of cash. “Here’s three hundred dollars. Should get you as far as Philly,” Jane opened her mouth for a question, and Nicole answered before she could ask, “It’s short for Philadelphia, biggest city in Pennsylvania. That’s the state east of here. East of that is New York, and north-east of that is Massachusetts, the state where Boston is.” Jane closed her mouth wordlessly, accepting the wad of cash. Nicole pulled a thick white card from her suit pocket. “Here’s my card. Call me if you ever change your mind.” As Jane moved to accept it, Nicole pushed it hard into Jane’s palm and looked her deep in the eyes. “You will never lose this, okay?”</p><p>Taken aback, Jane took a moment to respond. “O-okay. I promise I won’t lose your card.” Nicole exhaled, sounding a bit relieved as Jane looked at the card.</p><p> </p><p>
  <strong> <span class="u">Nicole Saint-Etienne</span> </strong>
</p><p>
  <em>617-555-6661</em>
</p><p> </p><p> </p><p>Jane squinted down at the card. Besides the name and number, there were other words she couldn't make out, before putting the card in the left pocket of her black button-down shirt, noticing her collar was slightly singed by the explosion.</p><p>“I still can't read most of this, but I got the number...”</p><p>“Good, that's the important stuff. Call that number if you ever change your mind, or if those people chasing you find you. They won’t be able to track you down as easily in a big city like Philly or New York…I’m sure you tried to go out into the country to hide Sunny out in the middle of nowhere, but the people after you…they’re like bloodhounds. Ah, bloodhounds are dogs that are good at tracking by scent. Don’t know how much you remember.” Jane nodded in response. “Philly or New York, okay.” She repeated. Nicole looked like something just came to her. “Oh, by New York, I mean New York City. It’s the biggest city in New York, the state.” She added.</p><p>“Why are they the same name? Who named these places?” Jane wrinkled her nose in confusion.</p><p>Nicole smiled. “Dunno, even old New York was once New Amsterdam. Why they changed it, I can’t say. Maybe people just liked it better that way.” She laughed her gentle laugh again, looking back at Jane for a response, and, finding none, laughed again. “Girl, you need to get your memory back so you'll get my jokes.”</p><p>Jane smiled – Nicole’s laugh made her feel secure, made her feel safe. She hated the fear she felt, the threatening energy emanating off of Nicole. She wished she could just take the easy option and go with her, but her gut kept tightening over it. “Yeah. That’s first on the list…not remembering anything is making me madder than a mosquito in a mannequin factory.” She said distractedly.</p><p>“Hey, that’s great! You just used an idiom. Looks like you’re making progress already!” Nicole said, her smile dropping and her face getting more serious, clasping her hands around Jane’s, making her jump slightly. They were a lot warmer than she expected, soft and refined. Jane hadn’t thought about it before, but her own hands were swollen, scarred, and calloused. She wondered what she did before…</p><p>“Hey.”</p><p>Jane snapped back up to attention at the sound of Nicole’s voice. “Be safe out there. I’ll take care of the check here and I’ll deal with the police and everything. You won’t have to worry about them. Make sure you call me when you get to Philly. I’ll call you a cab from here you can meet on the highway, ‘kay?”</p><p>“Okay.”</p><p>Jane picked up the snoring Sunny and held her close to her chest. The sun was rising, casting long shadows across the snowy highway. She walked towards the door, and nodded towards Nicole, who silently nodded back in farewell, before walking out the door.</p><p> </p><p>She held Sunny tightly against her chest, her daughter breathing heavily into her neck. She looked at the long stretch of highway… “Sun rises in the east, that much I know…so we walk towards it until we reach Pennsylvania. However far that is.” She began walking, her boots crunching the snow underfoot. She looked behind herself at the bands of violet and red in the sky, the lines of dawn fading behind her. She took a moment to marvel at her first sunrise, before turning and walking towards the horizon. “Nicole said she’d call for a cab…whatever that is,” She briefly thought about waking Sunny up to ask, but thought better of it, pushing her up to a slightly more comfortable position and walking dutifully towards the rising sun, on the side of the highway. She began humming the tune she had heard when she walked into the diner, and felt Sunny grip her collar a bit in her sleep. When she had exhausted herself of melodies from the diner’s shitty radio, she began humming whatever came to her mind, until a song broke into her memory, something playing through the fog in her head. It was low, rhythmic melody, something that felt really personal…she couldn’t remember the words, but kept humming it to Sunny, rubbing her back occasionally. She smiled to herself…caring for Sunny felt right, felt like something she could be happy with…she wondered how happy she’d be if she let Nicole take care of the both of them. She didn’t like the idea of losing that kind of responsibility, but she did smile when thinking of Nicole. Despite everything: losing her memories, her home, her place in the world…she still had a friend out there. Maybe Nicole wouldn’t be so bad to live with; if only there wasn’t this voice, this magnetic needle in her gut that spun out of control near Nicole…it was a familiar feeling, too. She remembered…she had been feeling it before the explosion. She was sure of that much.</p><p>The sun had climbed higher in the sky. It was so bright now, that Jane’s squint had nearly closed her eyes, and the snow underfoot had become sloshy and unstable. Jane moved to the shoulder of the road, but even that was covered in the slippery sludge, soaking her socks and the hem of her heavy black slacks. She shivered – despite the food and Sunny warming her up, she was freezing. She kept her eyes cast downwards, in part to watch her footing, but also to keep her gaze away from the sun – every light since she had woken up in that ambulance was so bright, burning her retinas. Everything looked gray and fuzzy unless she maintained her glare…nobody else had to squint like this. 'Maybe my eyes are broken?' Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of wheels on asphalt. She turned around and spotted a huge car, lugging a massive box on wheels. "This must be the cab Nicole had mentioned."</p><p>Jane waved it down, and it pulled over, the passenger door opening as a middle-aged man with a beard leaned out of it. “Hell are you doing out on the road, stranger? Get in here before you freeze to death!”</p><p>Jane was in no position to argue, climbing into the cab and sitting in the passenger seat, clutching Sunny, and closed the door. “Jesus Christ kid,” The man said, starting the truck back on its path eastward. “On the road, dressed lookin’ like you’re on your way to a funeral, carrying a baby like that.” He said, adjusting his hat and shooting constant glances towards his passengers.</p><p>“Thank you sir. We’re headed to Philly. Or New York. I forgot which.” Jane responded, shivering in her seat.</p><p>“Nevermind all that, miss. Here, take this.” He tossed her a denim jacket with a wool lining and a soft leather collar. Jane wrapped herself in it – it was a bit bulky on her, but fit her tall frame well enough. Sunny groaned and squirmed a bit at the noise, but stayed fast asleep “Kid’s beat, huh? Name’s Tucker, by the by. Earnhardt. No relation to Dale, but I wish.” He shoots a grin at Jane, and, getting no response looks back at the road. “And you? What’s y’all’s names?” </p><p>“Jane Doe. And this is Sunny. There is a relation between us; she’s my daughter.” She said.</p><p>Tucker snorted a bit at her deadpan delivery. “Jane Doe, huh? Like, the cold cases and murder mysteries? Unknown woman? I like that sort of story, you know. When they find a body and they can’t name it so that’s the name they give, right? Like a John Doe…you some kind of zombie? Or like a witch? One of my internet buddies is getting into witches…I don’t think they exist, all his evidence is obviously just aliens, and the government is trying to cover it up by secretly saying there’s witches with dummy accounts on the internet, you see they’re trying to keep aliens a secret-” He glanced over at Jane, who had passed out with Sunny nestled in her chest. “Well…I’ll save it for later.”</p><p> </p><p>“Mommy. Mommy, wake up!” Sunny tugged on Jane’s collar, who grumbled and blinked, squinting her eyes back down as the sun shone in her face, before looking at Sunny.</p><p>“Hey…we stopped. Where are we?” Jane asked groggily.</p><p>“Mister Earn Hard said Scranton, Pencil-Mania. He’s in the store getting us snacks and water…mommy, I really have to go to the bathroom.”</p><p>“Yeah, me too. Uh, where would that be?”</p><p>Sunny pointed to the convenience store - they were parked at a huge gas station, trucks refilling and peeling back off onto the highway. All the loud noises made Jane squirm, but she swallowed her discomfort, picking Sunny up and carrying her down to the concrete, slamming the huge truck door shut behind her. Sunny grabbed her hand as they walked into the store. She spotted Tucker at the cash register, buying sundries, but decided that the search for the bathroom was more imperative. After a short investigation, they found the door with the triangle-bodied person on it, and the almost never-used ladies room beyond.</p><p> </p><p>Walking back to the truck, relieved, they found Tucker, rifling through his things. “Jane! Jane, uh, you left the doors unlocked. That’s-” He looked at Sunny, and corrected his angry tone. “That’s a big no-no.” Jane climbed into the passenger seat, still wearing the denim jacket like a cape around her shoulders, pulling Sunny into her lap. “Sorry Tucker, Sunny had to use the restroom.” Sunny nodded sheepishly with her mother.</p><p>“I’m sorry Mister Earn Hard, I had to use the bathroom really badly.”</p><p>Tucker smiled and ruffled her short curly hair. “Don’t worry about it Miss Sunny, just…there’s some really important stuff in here.” He held up the scattered documents, blurry amateur photographs, and webpage printouts. “The M.I.B.s are definitely after these, they wanna make my proof – and me, disappear.”</p><p>Sunny looked up at her mother’s confused expression. “Mister Earn Hard takes pictures of aliens, and men in black are chasing him because of it.” Jane furrowed her brow, but nodded anyway. She had no idea what any of this meant but she didn’t want to lose her ride to Philly.</p><p>“Your kid’s one hell -oh sorry, heck- of a conversationalist. I’m trying to expose a huge government conspiracy, and well, here’s proof.” He held up a blurry photograph of the night sky, the shadow of a human figure in the middle, blocking out one of the stars. “My buddy says that’s a witch there. He’s a great investigator, but totally bought into the whole witch scam. That right there is an <strong>alien</strong>, extra terrestrial, from another planet. And the government wants my head for it.” He said, setting down his documents and climbing into the driver’s seat. He handed over two sticks of jerky and a bottle of water. Jane nodded in thanks, handing one of the jerky sticks to Sunny.</p><p>“So you’re on the run from people, just like us.” Jane intoned, watching Sunny happily munch on the jerky, stroking her head gently.</p><p>“Well, no, not really. I’m a trucker, since alien hunting don’t pay the bills, and it keeps me mobile so <em>they</em> can’t track me. So, your name is Jane Doe and <em>you’re</em> on the run from aliens too, huh?” The conspiracy theorist started up the truck. “Thought as much. Anyone named Jane Doe would be tangled up in a something like this. Besides, you’re dressed in all black, and whiter than a vampire’s ghost. I know you’re one of them aliens, on the run for something. And Sunny must be your half-alien baby you ran away with, right?”</p><p>Jane opened her mouth to retort, but the man held up a hand. “Say no more, your secret is safe with me, ‘<em>Jane Doe</em>’. Less I know, the better, right? I’ll get you and your child to New York, and we can go our separate ways, pretend we never met.” The man nodded knowingly, pulling onto the road eastwards. Jane closed her mouth, and looked down, taking a small bite of her jerky. This was going to be a long journey.</p><p> </p><p>“Keep the jacket, <em>Jane Doe</em>, it don’t get much warmer than this in the winter. Unless you’re cold-blooded, but...hell, I don't wanna know. And take care of Miss Sunny! She may be too smart for her own good.” The trucker assured with a wink.</p><p>“Thanks, Mister Earnhardt, we really appreciate it.” Jane said. Her ears were ringing from the hours of talk radio, conspiracy theories, and traffic noises. It wasn’t like it was any quieter in New York, but at least it was background noise.</p><p>“Bye Tucker the Trucker! Hope you get in touch with your buddies soon!” Sunny waved at the man from her perch on Jane’s shoulder.</p><p>“Thank you Miss Sunny, I will." He said, tipping his hat. "Got here right in time, too. Y2K is happening in a few days, and then the whole system goes down. Got to exchange physical mailing addresses with ‘em. Be safe, you two.” He said, closing the door and starting up the truck.</p><p> </p><p>They waved to the truck as it joined the parade of traffic, and it honked its horn in response, until it disappeared around a corner. Jane pulled Sunny down from her shoulders and set her on the ground, looking up at the skyscrapers dominating the skyline.</p><p>“Well Sunny, we made it. New York City, New York, once known as New Amsterdam.”</p><p>She looked down at her child and took her hand, and smiled at the reassuring squeeze she got in return.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Lost and Found</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Nicole tells Jane the truth after she and Sunny are found by a witch, but she isn't telling everything...</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Damn RTF files, cramping my style. I will hopefully find a way to convert the original text into HTML, but for now we must make do with this indent-lacking forum style of storytelling</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>
  <strong>Lost and Found</strong>
</p><p> </p><p>A wavy auburn bob bounces around Carmen's ears, as she twirls a scarlet parasol in one hand as she entered Central Park, slowed by a heavy limp. The city was still in mourning, even in October of 2001. The noise of the city never rested, but there was a pall over its citizens. Despite that, the newcomer Carmen smiled up at the concrete skyline, her beaming expression more out of place in her surroundings than her outlandish outfit and accouterments.</p><p>“Ah, fall is so beautiful, even here,” She sighs in a singsong voice, casting a sidelong glance at a man nearby defecating behind a bench. “The beauty of the big city…” A grimace momentarily interrupts her near-permanent grin, before quickly corrected. She was definitely in the right place. She stabbed the tip of her parasol into the ground and tapped her foot, closing her eyes for a moment. She stood still for a moment, as if listening...</p><p>She was hardly the strangest-looking person in Central Park at the moment, but was near the top of the list. Besides her scarlet parasol, Carmen wore a black rain slicker, black firefighter boots, a massive digital watch on her left wrist and brown cargo pants. In any other city, she would have stood out, but in Manhattan, she was yet another oddity on the street. She jumped as if shocked, and pulled her parasol from the ground, twirling it and humming a tune to herself as she stepped off the footpath and into a small trail worn down by footsteps before her, limping into the bushes.</p><p>Sitting on a pair of upturned buckets were two men, sitting in front of what passed for a pathway into a homeless encampment in the park, a small shantytown of tents and lean-tos. The oldest of the pair, aged by exposure and a harsh life, strummed an out of tune guitar, smiling at himself as if amused by the battered instrument’s refusal to play as he wanted. The other man was younger, more serious. Despite the weather he wore a tank top and jeans, and furtive eyes darted around the park from under a heavy, worried brow. Carmen appeared from the brush, walking towards the two men. The younger man tensed up immediately, and eyed the woman as if he was ready to guard the dozen or so shanties behind him with his life. The older man continued to strum his guitar as if he may as well not have seen her, and yet was the first to speak.</p><p>“How do you do, little miss? Need directions?” He asked in an earnest voice.</p><p>“Yeah, you lost?” The young man said, his tone a little more threatening, his voice sounding far more aged than his companion’s, stained by cigarettes and roughened with worry.</p><p>“In a way, I actually do.” She responded, her grin increasing by a few teeth as she stepped towards the men. “I’m not lost, per sé, but I could use directions, as well as a place to rest my feet.”</p><p>“Well then!” The old man said, the ghost of a cheerful laugh behind his words. “Pull up a seat, and we’ll do what we can to help you.” He flipped over a nearby bucket and pushed it forward with the end of his battered guitar. The younger man shot him a look, but kept his mouth shut.</p><p>“Thank you kindly, mister..?” Carmen sat on the bucket as daintily as she could with her gimp leg, groaning as she laid her parasol across her lap and clasped her hands over her knee, lacing her fingers together</p><p>“Chester.” The old man inclined his head as if tipping some invisible hat. “And this is Richard. Don’t mind him, he’s always like that.” Richard also nodded towards the woman, who bowed her head slightly in return. “Now, who might you be, and how can we help you?”</p><p>“Just call me Carmen,” She replied in a singsong voice, dragging a finger through the side of her bob and letting it fall back into place beside her ear. “I’m here looking for someone, actually. It’s been an exhaustive search, but I believe who I’m looking for is living in this camp. Would you two gentlemen happen to know a little girl, about the age of six, named Sunny?” She looked at the two men, waiting a beat for a response, before continuing, “She’s got blonde, curly hair, and is probably accompanied by an older woman, named Nicole?”</p><p>Chester and Richard shared a glance, Richard’s furrowed brow tightening a bit towards Chester. The senior shrugged a little, ending the two men’s non-verbal conversation and turning back to face Carmen. “Yeah, we know little Sunny all right. Everyone here’s real fond of her, but…” He sets aside his guitar and adjusts to be more comfortable. “I don’t know about anyone named Nicole. D’you mean Noodles?”</p><p>“Noodles?” Carmen looked genuinely confused.</p><p>“Yeah, we call her that because her hair looks like egg noodles.” Chester pantomimed strands of pappardelle pasta coming down his head to describe her hair.</p><p>“It’s because she cooks the best noodles out of everyone here, Chester, not because of her hair.” Richard corrected.</p><p>“That she does. Also because of her noodle hair.” Chester nodded, drawing a nearly inaudible hiss from Richard. “Her real name’s Jane, of course, we just call her Noodles.” This admission drew another hiss, louder this time, from the younger man.</p><p>“Jane…” Carmen repeated to herself quietly. “So you’re saying Sunny - and Jane, are here, in this encampment?”</p><p>Chester opened his mouth, but before he could answer, Richard cut him off.</p><p>“Not at the moment, no. Jane takes Sunny to the library around this time to study. Schwartzman Building, on Fifth Avenue. Huge lion out front, you can’t miss it.” The young man said, his voice shaking slightly as he stood up. Carmen stood up, leaning on her parasol like a cane, her grin shrinking slightly.</p><p>“Well, do you mind if I wait here for them?” She said, her singsong voice adopting a quiet, threatening tremble. Richard crossed his arms.</p><p>“Do what you want. I’ve got to go check on something anyway. Here, Chester, how about you play her a few songs, tell her a few stories to keep her entertained. Maybe the one about the time you fell in the sewer?” Chester grinned a crooked smile, picking up his guitar.</p><p>“You don’t have to ask me twice! Sit down lil missy, let me spin you a yarn from the time I fell down a manhole and met myself the king of the rats.” The old man said, strumming his guitar. Carmen sank back down onto her bucket, a defeated expression fighting with her plastered-on smile for control of her face. Richard felt satisfied before carefully trudging off among the tents, ducking into a large orange one near the back of the shantytown.</p><p>“Noodles. Sunny. I think there’s a fed here looking for you.”</p><p>Jane looked up from a mug of canned soup she held, her flat white hair pulled back and tied with a frayed white ribbon, setting down her breakfast. “You sure Richard? Why me?”</p><p>“Dunno. She’s looking for Sunny though. Might be from Child Services to take her away.” Richard motioned over towards the front of the camp. “I’m having Chester distract her. You two need to get out of here. If a fed’s here that means the cops are gonna break up the camp by tomorrow anyway.” He looks over at Sunny, still snoring in her sleeping bag, a comic book on her stomach. “Besides, I don’t want her to get taken up by the government. Corny as it is, you two have been good to have around, and I know how bad you’d take it if she was snatched.” He said, his serious features softening for a moment. Jane nodded, prodding Sunny.</p><p>“Baby, we’ve got to go. Get your things ready.” Jane says gently to her. Sunny moans and curls up, the comic book falling onto the ground as Jane hastily packed her backpack with things strewn around the tent. “I need to get to a phone.” She said, patting the chest pocket of her denim jacket. Richard nodded.</p><p>“Should be one outside the park, behind the bus station.” Richard said, helping stuff some belongings into Sunny’s backpack as the girl stirred from her rest.</p><p>“What’s going on..?” Mister Richard?” Sunny rubbed her eyes as she sat up, sniffing slightly. Jane passed her a down jacket that was two sizes too large on the child, and she shouldered it without question.</p><p>“We’ve got to go. Mister Richard is helping pack. Someone’s come looking for us here.” Jane said, offering the mug of soup to Sunny, who gripped and sipped it with slight disdain for the cold, flavorless broth.</p><p>“The Men in Black are here?” Sunny asked, wiping her mouth. Jane rolled her eyes and scoffed bit.</p><p>“Actually it’s a woman in black,” Richard said, “And I don’t think she’s an alien. Well…if I had to pick one person who would be an alien, it would probably be her. She gave me the creeps.”</p><p>“Oh, don’t you start with that alien nonsense.” Jane said, shouldering her backpack and passing Sunny her shoes.</p><p>“It’s them…” Sunny said to herself, pulling on her velcro shoes. “I do feel all weird in my stomach whenever they get close, maybe we’re aliens too, and they’re here to take us back.”</p><p>Jane stops, sighing and raking her fingers through her hair. “Sunny, we would know if we were aliens. Aliens aren’t real. They’re just…” She looks into Sunny’s eyes and moves a lock of curly hair from the child’s face, “They’re just bad people who want to take you away from me, okay baby? You’re just… sensitive” She pulled Sunny closer, hugging her tight, trying to ignore the compass in her own stomach spinning wildly out of control. It pained her to lie to Sunny, but she didn’t need her child to believe they were psychic aliens on the run from the men in black. Sunny already had too many idiosyncrasies to make friends her age as it was.</p><p>The sound of out of tune guitar from the front of the camp ceased, and Richard stopped.</p><p>“Chester’s done. I’ll try and stall the fed for a while, you two get out of here.” He said, leaving the tent. Jane rolled up the comic book and stuffed it in the back of Sunny’s bag, handing it to her.</p><p>“Thanks Richard. Let’s go, baby.” Jane held Sunny’s hand, receiving the reassuring squeeze she needed. She couldn’t live without it. As they crept from their orange tent, Jane caught a glimpse of the woman. The compass in her gut began spinning wildly again, a cold sweat breaking out on her forehead. She made eye contact with the woman with the parasol and felt something new to her. Recognition. She saw the same recognition in Carmen’s gaze, her eyes widening and grip on the parasol tightening. Jane saw the woman say something to Richard and push past him, limping towards them. Jane turned away, and, with a firm hand on Sunny’s back, guided her through the homeless encampment towards the edge of the park.</p><p> </p><p>As soon as they were outside of the park, Jane gripped Sunny’s hand again and briskly walked across the street, eyeing the park exit for the strange woman. She was frightened, truly frightened, for the first time she could remember. She put on a pair of cheap plastic sunglasses, partly to hide her identity, and partly to protect her photosensitive eyes, dragging Sunny through the throng of New Yorkers on their morning commute towards the public phone. She ducked towards it, pulling Sunny close to her side and pushing the sunglasses down her nose to make out the number pad. She pulled the card, Nicole’s card, from her chest pocket, smiling down at it. No matter how many times she had lost it, dropped it, or forgotten where it was, she was always able to find it - usually in her chest pocket. It felt like a lucky charm to her at this point. She briefly let go of Sunny to jam quarters into the public phone, her hand shooting back down to clutch Sunny’s again as she read the card aloud to herself.</p><p>“Six-Seventeen, Five Five Five, Sixty-Six Sixty-One,” She said, punching in each number as she said it. The phone began ringing, “Pick up, pick up, pick up…” She whispered to herself, jumping slightly when she heard it click on the other end.</p><p>“Hello? Nicole Saint-Etienne speaking.” Jane smiled. ‘<em>So that’s how her name is pronounced</em>’ she thought to herself for a moment before speaking into the receiver in a hushed voice.</p><p>“Nicole? This is Jane. We’re in New York and someone is-“</p><p>“Jane?” Nicole shouted into the phone, cutting her off completely. “Jane, you’re alright? Thank God, you didn’t call me when you got to Philly; I thought you hadn’t made it. Why haven’t you called in the past two years? Are you still with Sunny? What’s going on?”</p><p>Jane closed her eyes. She hated answering questions, especially when she needed help. A headache was beginning to buzz behind her eyes.</p><p>“We never made it to Philly and for the first year, I didn’t know how phones- never mind all that, I’m sorry I didn’t call you, we’ve just been…Sunny and I have been caught up in a lot. Look, someone came looking for us, and…” She looked down at Sunny, and lowered her voice, “I have a really awful feeling about them.” Nicole was silent for a moment. Sunny looked up.</p><p>“Is that Nicole? Can I talk to her?” Sunny asked. Jane squirmed, before dropping down to Sunny’s level holding the phone so they can both hear. “Hi Miss Nicole! How are you?”</p><p>Nicole stayed silent for another beat before responding, “I’m good, Sunshine. You taking care of your mom for me?” She replied. Even when worried, Nicole’s voice warmed Jane to the core.</p><p>“Yep! I’m keeping her out of trouble.”</p><p>“That’s good. Could you put your mom on the phone, honey?” She requested tenderly.</p><p>“I’m here, Nicole.” Jane replied, pulling the phone a bit closer. “We can both hear you.”</p><p>“Good. I’m on my way to you both. Just sit tight.” Nicole said calmly.</p><p>“From Boston? How far is that from here?” Jane asked.</p><p>“We’re outside of Central Park! That’s in Manhattan.” Sunny added, proud of her geographical knowledge.</p><p>“Don’t worry about it you two. I’m nearby…I’ll be there soon.” Nicole said.</p><p>“What do you mean, nearby? Are you in New York already?” Jane interrogated, before catching sight of the woman with the red parasol, lurching towards them from across the street, grinning from ear to ear. “Nicole we have to go now. She’s found us.”</p><p>“Okay. Keep to the alleyways, I’ll find you.” Nicole responded. Jane hung up the phone without a reply, grabbing Sunny’s hand and dragging her into the alley behind her.</p><p>“Wait! I didn’t get to say bye to Miss Nicole!” Sunny protested, before relenting and following Jane. They ran through the streets, ducking between roads, Jane with one eye behind her shoulder the whole time. She stopped, leaning against an alley wall next to the street. Her migraine was growing. She clutched her head and closed her sensitive eyes, the din of traffic making her head pound worse and worse.</p><p>“Are you okay Mom?” Sunny tugged on the hem of Jane’s denim jacket.</p><p>“Yeah Sunny.” Jane reached down to squeeze her daughter’s shoulder. “Don’t worry about mommy…” She looked down the alley, and her heart felt constricted as she saw a flash of scarlet, their smiling pursuer twirling her parasol as she walked down the alley towards the pair, her uneven gait crunching the asphalt and broken glass underfoot. Carmen stopped about twenty paces away from them, stabbing the umbrella down into the ground beside her.</p><p>A foul-smelling black sludge began spilling from under the raincoat, spattering around Carmen’s feet. The same dark liquid began gushing from her eyes, running down her cheeks and spilling from her mouth. She took a squelching step forwards, and Sunny squealed in fear and confusion, burying her face against her mother. Jane clutched Sunny tightly against her, gritting her teeth and glaring at the black-clad woman. Despite every humanly urge telling her to bolt, Jane was frozen in place, watching the figure melt into a tower of the black mud, crawling towards them, reaching out with arms of sludge, inches from the quivering pair. Jane felt like her head was going to burst.</p><p>A sedan screeched to a halt at the side of the road, the passenger door swinging open, Nicole leaning out from it.</p><p>“Get in!” She shouted. The sludge-slicked woman’s grin widened, and she nodded past her prey, towards Nicole. The startling voice broke Jane’s paralysis, and she found strength in her limbs again. She lifted Sunny against her chest, scrambling into the car and slamming the door shut as Nicole stomped the gas, weaving into the line of traffic. Jane breathed out, closing her eyes. She almost forgot her current situation, before feeling a small hand claw at her collar, Sunny trembling and sobbing into Jane’s chest.</p><p>Jane wrapped her arms around the child, cooing softly, soothing her as best she could, despite her heaving breath and pounding heart. She turned slightly, making eye contact with Nicole next to her. They shared the glance until the light changed and the traffic started moving again, and they rode together without speaking for some time, the silence only broken by the soft sobs of the weeping child and Jane humming that nameless tune that always soothed her child.</p><p> </p><p>Jane stared out the window of the car, the sun high in the sky by now. She looked at the disappearing Manhattan skyline shrinking into the horizon. She sighed and rubbed Sunny’s head. Finally asleep.</p><p>“So…what was that?” Jane asked, breaking the silence between her and Nicole. Nicole’s mouth tightened grimly.</p><p>“Old acquaintance of mine, named Carmen.” She said, her eyes remaining on the road.</p><p>“Not who,” Jane shook her head. “I want to know what that was. What we saw.”</p><p>“That’s a difficult question to answer, Jane.” She said, finally breaking her gaze at the road to look at Sunny, “I can tell you, not that you’d believe me, but…I don’t want you to tell her. Sunny’s too young to know. It’d be better if this was all just a nightmare to her.”</p><p>Jane hated lying to her daughter, but given the circumstances…</p><p>“Fine. But I want to know what that was.”</p><p>“Carmen is a witch. Like, a person who uses magic.” Nicole sighed through her nose, “That’s the truth.”</p><p>Jane looked down at Sunny. “I believe you.”</p><p>Nicole quirked an eyebrow, but kept her focus on the road. “Well…that was easier than I expected.”</p><p>“I guess losing you memory makes you gullible, but yeah, I believe you.” She said, “Makes more sense than us being aliens, I guess.”</p><p>“Aliens?” Nicole smiled a bit, for the first time since the ride started. “I guess I missed a lot in the past few years.” Her smile lingered for only a moment, before relapsing into the grim frown again</p><p>“Sorry I didn’t call you.” Jane’s voice shrank a bit, leaning back into her seat.</p><p>“No worries. We met once. I didn’t tell you anything. I wouldn’t blame you for not trusting me.” Nicole’s knuckles tightened against the steering wheel.</p><p>“I’m guessing you’re a witch too?”</p><p>Nicole sighed once more, “Yeah, I am.”</p><p>“So why are these witches after us? Or I guess, Sunny.”</p><p>“Witches can get stronger by consuming other witches. Sunny’s…an aberration. Usually you become a witch by joining a coven, learning from a coven leader. But Sunny…she was born a witch. More than that, she was born as powerful a witch as an ancient coven leader. As a child, she’s not just easy pickings for witches, but basically a key to immortality. By consuming her, they would be able to expand their life and become as powerful as a coven leader...something that would usually take decades of work condensed into one ultimate sin.”</p><p>“So they’re…cannibal witches?”</p><p>Nicole nodded. “Basically. Sorry for throwing a lot of terminology at you, but yeah. Cannibal witches want to eat Sunny is what it boils down to.”</p><p>“And you’re a good witch?”</p><p>Nicole laughed. It was a sudden, hearty laugh that simultaneously surprises and soothes Jane.</p><p>“I’m just a bystander. If the bar for being a ‘good’ witch is not eating children, then I guess I cleared it pretty easily. I guess I’m just a glutton for punishment, for not taking the easy way to become a stronger witch by literally eating other people. If it means I can help you two along the way, then even better.”</p><p>“Then am I a witch?” Jane asked quietly. She somehow felt selfish for asking it, as if she was wasting a genie’s wish.</p><p>“Most likely. Your memory loss is definitely magic-related. If I had to guess…” Nicole trailed off.</p><p>“If you had to guess?”</p><p>“Well, if I had to guess, you got in the way of the witches hunting Sunny, and they used magic to wipe your memory. Some witches are easier to…alter, in this way, instead of killing them outright. Magic is tricky like that. You have to find loopholes if you want to get rid of each other, not as simple as just cursing each other to death. But…well, you’re her mother. That pretty much confirms that you’re a witch.”</p><p>Jane’s grip around her daughter tightened, a choking doubt rising in her throat, “She doesn’t even look like me. Am I really her mom?”</p><p>Nicole placed her hand on Jane’s. “You are. Sunny knows it, I know it. Anyone who sees you with her would know it. The only reason you doubt it is because of the witches who took your memory.” She gave Jane’s hand a squeeze, her grip also tightening on the wheel, a slight scowl invading her features. “I promise, I can protect you from them. Sunny deserves a normal life…she didn’t choose for any of this to happen. I won’t let them find you again.”</p><p>Jane slumped down in her seat a little, looking up at the ceiling of the car, trying to keep the tears in her eyes from rolling down her face. She buried her face in the sleeping Sunny’s curls, exhaling in a rough, silent scream as tears streamed down her flushed cheeks. She wanted to stomp, scream, and punch the dashboard of the car. All she had the energy to do was clutch Sunny close, buried in the child’s dirty blonde hair, and sob, trying with all her might to stay silent.</p><p>“Jane…”</p><p>The albino woman wiped her face. “I’m fine Nicole.” She sniffed. “So, what happens now?”</p><p>Nicole deflated a little, fixing her eyes on the road ahead.</p><p>“Tell me about the past few years. How Sunny’s been doing, what you’ve been up to. I’m…proud that you’ve managed to make it this far, considering everything.” She said, smiling comfortingly</p><p>Jane laughed dryly.</p><p>“I should have taken your offer in that diner.” Jane stared out the window. “I’ve been a terrible mother. Gullible, weak…first week in New York, I lost your card and half our money. Found the card, but…not the money.” She stopped herself, “I’m gonna guess your business card was magic? That’s why I couldn’t lose it?”</p><p>Nicole smiled. “Bingo.”</p><p>Jane was comforted by the smile, and returned one weakly. “So how far does magic go? Besides convenient business cards, you showing up like a guardian angel, me losing my memory and creepy women turning into goo monsters?”</p><p>Nicole furrowed her brow as if chewing on the question for a moment.</p><p>“More than you’d think, less than you’d want. Questions for later, though.”</p><p>Jane nodded. “Right. So uh, we bounced around shelters for a while. I used the rest of the money for food and clothes for Sunny. We had a lot of help, but…not enough for a while. Second year was the worst. Our first Christmas together - that I could remember, anyway - was rough. We heard they were giving out these little Christmas dinners over by the church, took a train halfway across the city, but…” Jane choked up “We didn’t make it in time. Tried to take a bus back to the shelter, but I fell asleep. Sunny woke me up and we were lost. She was cold, and hungry, and now we had nowhere to go. I had her wait while I went to a grocery store to try and, uh, procure some food, but the cops caught me, and I spent the night in jail, while she was freezing, out there, alone in the cold.” Jane broke down again, clapping a hand over her mouth to stifle her wails, regaining composure after a moment of screaming silently into her palm. “I don’t even remember when they let me back out, and when I went to find her, she wasn’t where I had left her.”</p><p>“How’d you find her again?” Nicole asked.</p><p>“I looked everywhere for her. I followed my gut. I thought it was a mother’s intuition. Maybe it was witchcraft. Maybe both. The little compass in my stomach…found my way outside of a first-floor apartment. There she was, eating dinner with a family. A real family, and she looked like a part of it. She looked so happy, happier than I’d ever made her. I’d never screamed like that before.” Jane looked down at Sunny, laughing humorlessly. “Talked to them for a bit when they came outside. Thanked them, I forget how many times. They gave us some of their leftover dinner. Apparently they had found Sunny where I told her to wait, outside of the store. Picked her up, bathed her…even gave her some new clothes. They weren’t rich, but…Sunny talked about their tiny apartment like it was a castle. She’d seen the cops take me away. They said were going to go to the police station, even try and pay my bail if they had to. For Christmas of the year 2000, she got to see what it was like to have a family. People who could actually provide for her, instead of me.” The car hit a slight bump, and Jane bit her lip. “Ah! That’s what I get for not wearing a seatbelt.” She strapped herself in, wiping her tears. “After that, we bounced around some more shelters until I found a job cleaning up at a bodega. Managed pretty well. Couldn’t afford a place to live, but a halfway house was enough for us. For a while. Managed to save up and get Sunny a few things, new shoes, clothes that fit her, a couple of toys. We hadn’t been keeping track of birthdays. Neither of us remembered when ours were. But I got her a few presents now and then. Sneaked candy and food to her. Even started taking her to the library, so we could both learn stuff like history and math.” She chuckled, “I was kind of jealous, that she was learning faster than I was. I had saved up a decent amount by summertime, but…one day I came home from work and the landlady of the halfway house told me someone had come looking for Sunny. She thought it was a cop so she sent them away. But something…that compass in my stomach. My guts clenched all up and I knew I had to get out of there. Quit my job, and by the time you had found me, we’d been living in a homeless encampment in Central Park for a few months. They were good people there. I think the reason she was crying so much was she realized she couldn’t see any of them anymore.” Jane put a hand on Sunny’s shoulder, and the child stirred a bit. Realizing that Sunny would soon wake up, Jane hastily wiped her face on her sleeve.</p><p>“Hey there Sunshine.” Nicole said, her grim face melting into a sincere smile at almost the instant Sunny lifted her head up.</p><p>“Miss Nicole…” Sunny wiped her face into the denim of her mother’s jacket, turning around to get more comfortable on Jane’s lap. “You hair’s different.” She said groggily.</p><p>Nicole’s musical laughter filled the car.</p><p>“Yeah, I guess so!” She flicked a hand through her fluffy cloud of thick black hair flamboyantly. “How does it look, hon’?”</p><p>Sunny nodded in approval. “It looks like a pillow sneezed. It’s really different from last time.”</p><p>“Yeah, well a lot can change in two years! Your hair’s gotten a lot longer, and your mom’s started tying her hair back. I’d say we’re all pretty due for a haircut.”</p><p>Sunny shook her head “Mom started tying her hair like that a while ago, right after we met you.” She reached across the car to awkwardly grip Nicole’s forearm with her small hand, Jane catching her to make sure she stayed upright. “I missed you, Miss Nicole.”</p><p>Nicole’s features hardened a bit, like she was holding back tears, before smiling again, a small flush tinting her cheeks. “You don’t know how much that means to me, Sunshine.” She said, reaching across and ruffling the girl's hair.</p><p>"I'm glad you're feeling better, Sunny." Jane pulled her close and planted a gentle kiss on her cheek, wiping Sunny's face as best she could. "You were having a bad nightmare."</p><p>"A nightmare? So that monster..?" Sunny looked up at Jane for answers. Jane nodded, rubbing Sunny's shoulder</p><p>"Just a bad dream, baby. Miss Nicole is taking us..." Jane stopped. "Uh, Nicole?"</p><p>"Oh!" Nicole started, smacking her forehead exaggeratedly, making Sunny giggle a bit. "How could I forget? We're going to Boston, I have an apartment there."</p><p>Jane smiled. For someone who was always dressed in a crisp suit, Nicole was pretty good with kids. She then frowned a bit.</p><p>"Nicole?"</p><p>"Hm?"</p><p>"Do you have any kids?"</p><p>Nicole looked back at the road, as if trying to word her answer to the simple question as if it was as secretive and dangerous a query as the ones about magic.</p><p>"Sunny, do you have any friends? Like, around your age?"</p><p>Jane clicked her tongue a bit, annoyed by the evasion, but Nicole smirked towards her, as if the answer was obvious.</p><p>"Nope! Well, sometimes, but not ones I see a lot." Sunny said. "You're my friend though!" She added, as if worried about hurting Nicole's feelings. Jane swelled with pride slightly. Sunny was nothing if not considerate, especially for her age.</p><p>"Well, I do have a kid. A daughter. She could use some friends herself, so I think this will work out great for both of you." </p><p>Sunny squealed in delight, giddily shaking her legs. Jane adjusted the child to keep her little legs from smacking into her own.</p><p>"So you left your child at home to get us?" Jane challenged Nicole. If Nicole was going to dodge her direct questions about magic, she was going to test it with subtle, probing questions. '<em>Was Nicole able to conjure a whole child out of thin air?</em>' She wondered, smiling to herself at her own sneakiness.</p><p>"Relax, Jane." Nicole smirked, already onto Jane's game. "She's staying with her grandmother."</p><p>"Ah. Who's her father? I didn't take you for a family gal."</p><p>"Oh, I'm not married. Her dad was an old boyfriend." She waved her hand dismissively. "He's overseas in Japan or Korea, I think." </p><p>"You think?"</p><p>"Yeah well I don't keep tabs on him. He travels a lot, doesn't really visit."</p><p>"I see. What's your daughter's name?"</p><p>"Her name is..." Nicole stopped for a moment, merging into another lane. "Her name's Molly." Nicole said with a satisfied grin. </p><p>"Yay! Molly!" Sunny rocked back and forth with excitement. Jane smiled - Sunny was easily excited, but this was a new level. It didn't really matter to her if this 'Molly' was magicked out of thin air or was Nicole's flesh and blood child...as long as Sunny had a girl her age to play with, it was fine by her. She still didn't trust Nicole all that much; her internal compass was still spinning out of control, but it was more comfortable than in the diner, and her wariness was decreasing by the moment. </p><p>"I've got to go to the bathroom..." Sunny said, cutting off her own excitement. </p><p>"There's a gas station coming up soon, Sunshine. Just hold on for a moment."</p><p>The bathroom was for a single person only. Thankfully Sunny had gotten better at using the bathroom alone, which meant that Jane could interrogate Nicole without the curious audience.</p><p>"Is Molly real? Or are you going to just use magic to make a child? Because I don't know how much I want my daughter's best friend to be a spell. She has enough imaginary friends as it is." Jane demanded in a hushed voice.</p><p>Nicole held up her hands. "Whoa there, Jane. I'm not nearly powerful enough to make a child. Not with magic, anyway. That's a complex process, you need to grow a homunculus, harvest a soul, sacrifice a-"</p><p>Jane cut her off. "Then why were you so dodgy about Molly?"</p><p>"Ah, that. Well you see, Molly and I have...a complicated relationship. She's a lot like Sunny. Really precocious."</p><p>"Nicole, we both know I don't know what that word means."</p><p>"Ah. She's uh, really mature for her age. Smart. But where Sunny's really polite and considerate, Molly...she tends to think of herself like an adult. That's why I didn't know whether or not to bring her up."</p><p>"Is that all?" Jane crosses her arms.</p><p>"When witchcraft is involved, there's no end to the <em>all, </em>but I promise you that Molly isn't an imaginary friend. She's just...herself." Nicole shrugged. "I'm sorry for never giving you a straight answer. You really deserve one, but...the more I tell you, the more I can put you and Sunny in danger. Knowing more about magic makes your aura stick out more. It's like...humans are lighters, and magic is gas. The more gas you give it, the brighter it burns. Sunny's already like a flamethrower. She drowns out every light around her. But if you start getting more gas, or, God forbid, Sunny starts learning more about magic, the witches hunting you will start coming loaded for bear. Even just you learning about it this afternoon has increased your signature. I can feel it, just barely. And Sunny? It's like standing next to a furnace. That compass you talk about, in your stomach? That's part of your sense as a witch. You've been found, what, three times in two years? If they start coming in groups, I won't be strong enough to keep you hidden, or keep Sunny safe. And that's the one thing I want to be able to provide for you."</p><p>"So how strong are you?"</p><p>"I can bench about one forty-five" Nicole flexed her arm, showboating despite her muscles being barely visible through her suit jacket.</p><p>"You know what I mean. How strong is your magic?" Jane stifled her urge to laugh, forcing a serious face.</p><p>Nicole dropped her arm, her smirk disappearing. "Strong. Stronger than most, but...I'm still just a human. Despite the magic, the muscles, and impeccable sense of style, I'm not a superhero. Nobody is. Witchcraft is the same as any skill. Talent will only take someone so far. I've poured half my life into studying it, practicing harder than my peers, but...there's always going to be someone who can beat me. And no matter how good someone is at magic, there’s always more strength in numbers. I assume that's what happened to you two years ago. There was enough magical residue at the site of that explosion to power a city, and more than a few witch corpses, but despite all of that, they still nearly got Sunny."</p><p>Jane opened her mouth for more questions, but the toilet flushed in the restroom, cutting her off. She and Nicole stood silently at the door, waiting for Sunny to finish washing her hands.</p><p>"Whew!" Sunny pushed the door open, drying her hands on her pants. "Time to meet Molly!"</p><p>Nicole picked Sunny up and perched her on top of her shoulders, eliciting a shriek of delight from the child as she lurched on top of the woman.</p><p>"Alright then, gang! Sunshine and I will go fill up the gas tank," Nicole passed a billfold to Jane, "Think you can grab us some snacks? Dinner will be my treat tonight, but I'm sure you two are hungry. Spend as much as you want from here." Jane raised her brows in surprise after looking down into the wallet, but nodded and looked up at Sunny. </p><p>"You two be careful." Jane said, almost from pure instinct. She felt far away, detached. Some combination of shock and exhaustion had shaken her...she was filled with questions and confusion.</p><p>Sunny played with Nicole's fluffy hair while she ducked below the doorframe out of the convenience store, Jane smiling at them, still a bit distant. She perused the food aisle, grabbing a few snacks she knew Sunny would like, and a pair of packed sandwiches for her and Nicole. She approached the counter, grabbing a packet of fruit candy she liked to share with Sunny. The teenaged clerk smacked at her chewing gum, smiling at Jane.</p><p>"You two make a cute couple." The young lady said, scanning the sundries.</p><p>Jane was taken aback. "Pardon?"</p><p>"Oh no, don't worry, it's cool. I'm cool with girls like you. Like us. Rock on, you know. I wish I had that, but I still live with my parents."</p><p>Jane stared in confusion, the wheels finally turning in her head.</p><p>"No, it's not like that. She's just a friend."</p><p>"Gotcha." The clerk winked conspicuously. Something about her reminded Jane of Tucker the Trucker.</p><p>"Seriously!" Jane protested.</p><p>The clerk finished scanning the items, before lazily looking out towards Nicole and Sunny, the latter still playing with the former's hair, talking to each other while filling up the car outside.</p><p>"Well...sorry about that. My bad." </p><p> </p><p>Jane exited the convenience store, holding the plastic bags by her side, Nicole and Sunny both smiling energetically by the car, like they were proud they managed to get it filled up as a team. Jane sighed. She felt relieved. Nicole was proving better at this in an afternoon than she had in two years. Sunny climbed into the back seat, and Jane made sure to buckle her in securely before getting in the passenger seat, craning her neck to look at her. Nicole started the car, and Jane dug through the bags, passing out the snacks to everyone, making sure to return Nicole's billfold.</p><p>"You could have spent more, Jane."</p><p>"I know, but this is enough." She replied, unwrapping her sandwich. Nicole shrugged, pulling out from the station. The next hour and a half of travel was filled with the noises of snacking and drinking.</p><p>Jane took the moment of silence to look Nicole over. She was thinking about what the clerk had said earlier. Jane squinted heavily to make out the details. Nicole was shorter than Jane, but not by more than a few inches. She had mild laugh lines, but otherwise her skin was amazingly smooth. Her powder blue suit was quite crisp and high quality, from what Jane could tell, and her necktie had a constellation pattern on it. A pair of silver earrings with intricate eye patterns dangled from her ears. Her fingernails were painted in a pattern that matched her tie: blue-black with white and green starpoints dotting the surface. Her nails, makeup, brows...everything about her was so perfectly manicured. Jane considered her own unkempt appearance. The same dirty denim jacket she'd gotten from Tucker, a messy, ill-fitting t shirt, black jeans held up with a worn old belt, and the same black leather boots she had been wearing when they had met two years ago. She felt pretty gross, comparing herself to a basically flawless woman like Nicole. She felt something twinge in her gut. 'What could that brat have seen between us? How could we be a couple?' She thought to herself.</p><p>"Hey Nicole, you're not seeing anyone, are you?" Jane asked, still lost in thought.</p><p>"Hm?"</p><p>"Hm?" Jane repeated, jumping when she realized she had asked the question aloud. "N-not that it matters, of course. Just wondering if, while we were staying with you, Sunny would meet any men in the house. Or women, y'know, if you're into that sort of thing."</p><p>"No, I'm not seeing any men. Nor am I seeing any women, you know, if I'm into that sort of thing." Nicole chided quietly.</p><p>"Well, takes all sorts, and all. It's a new millennium and all that. Consenting adults, you know." Jane backpedaled.</p><p>"Of course Jane, and you will be the first person to know if I start 'seeing anyone' while you two are staying with me." </p><p>"Are you two talking about kissing? Yuck." Sunny looked disgusted, while watching the two back-and-forth.</p><p>"I'm not talking about kissing Nicole, Sunny!" Jane looked back at the child in the back of the car, her cheeks flushing with embarrassment as Nicole's laughter once again filled the car.</p><p>"I think she meant in general, Jane." Nicole chided again, barely holding back more laughter. "Don't worry Sunshine, your mom's just worried I might go out and kiss someone while you're staying with Molly and I."</p><p>"That's gross." Sunny said, looking out the window. Jane sighed, pushing a strand of hair from her face and raking her scalp with her fingers.</p><p> </p><p>"Holy shit." Jane dropped her backpack in shock.</p><p>"Bad word, mom!" Sunny warned. "But also, holy cow!"</p><p>The two stared at the big empty apartment laid out before them. It was bigger than anywhere they'd lived before, and while that didn't have much competition, it was still bigger than most apartments in Boston. It was in a slick, modern-looking building, with three floors of luxury apartments, on the west side of Boston.</p><p>"You two can stay in the guest bedroom, leave your stuff in there for the time being. Second door on your right. If you're not too tired, I think I'd like to get the two of you cleaned up." Nicole said, closing the door behind them.</p><p>"What's that supposed to mean? We make sure to shower at the Y.M.C.A., and I wash our clothes...well, semi-regularly." Jane pouted.</p><p>"Not cleaned up like, in the literal sense," Nicole laughed again, "I mean I'm going to give the two of you makeovers." </p><p>Sunny responded to the news by jumping up and down with delight, before Jane stilled her with a hand on the shoulder. </p><p>"You two could probably use a shower after today, though. There's fresh towels and soap in the guest bathroom, should be next to your room. If you're not too tired of riding around in the car, I'll take you into town and we can get some new clothes, a haircut, and some dinner." Nicole continued, pulling off her jacket. Jane noticed that she wore dark suspenders with a pattern matching her nails and tie. '<em>Of course she would.</em>' Jane looked down at her own attire once more, before looking back up towards Nicole.</p><p>"I'm gonna shower!" Sunny announced, marching off towards the bathroom. A few moments later, she poked her head back out. "Miss Nicole, how do you work the shower?" </p><p>Nicole and Jane shared a glance, Nicole sighing and pushing her sleeves up her forearms. "Have a seat. It's one of those three-knob affairs, and I haven't used it since I moved in. This is going to be a learning experience for the both of us." She said, approaching the bathroom.</p><p>Jane sat down, pulling off her jacket and gazing around the apartment. The furnishings were rather Spartan. Modern TV, modern couch, modern kitchen, bare modern dining room...it didn't feel very lived-in. Jane carefully untied her boots. She'd forgotten to take them off in the first place, having not being in an actual domicile in months. She placed her boots beside the table very carefully, her threadbare socks muffling her movements. This was a good chance to snoop. She took light, silent footsteps down the hall, quietly opening doors, hearing a shriek of laughter from Sunny, mixed with Nicole's musical chuckle. At least they were keeping busy. She opened a door, noticing a notch cut into the side of the door jam. She ran her fingers over it, before looking into the room. It was a study, with a desk tucked into the corner. A good bet some witchcraft took place in here, but she couldn't find any obvious signs. She closed the door with a gentle click, turning across the hall and peeking into the next room. A messy queen sized bed, clothes and sheets strewn around the floor. Nicole's bedroom. Jane resisted the urge to snoop some more, and closed the door. She noticed another deep notch cut into the doorframe. She raised her hand to touch it as well.</p><p>"Find anything interesting?"</p><p>Jane jumped, pulling back and looking down the hall at Nicole. Her shirt was soaked with water, dark skin visible through the wet fabric. Jane had to force herself to make eye contact.</p><p>"Sorry, I was just-"</p><p>"No apology necessary, Jane. This is your home now, too. And I don't blame you for being..." Nicole followed Jane's gaze down to her abs, "...curious. Sorry, got some water on me while figuring out the faucets. Came down here to get a new shirt."</p><p>Jane gulped, the embarrassment of being caught red-handed making her cheeks burn.</p><p>"Where's Molly's room?" She asked, desperate to change the subject.</p><p>"She usually stays with her grandmother, and when she comes here, she takes the guest room. But...well Sunny seems pretty anxious to meet her, and I don't want to be a liar, so I suppose we can meet her for dinner...which means you'll have to meet my mother." She says, loosening her tie. "She makes...snap judgments about people. She's very discerning. I'm sure she'll love Sunny, but..."</p><p>"But?"</p><p>"Well, that's why I'm a bit desperate for this makeover. She's very traditional, and I don't know how much she would like you. She'll definitely expect you to wear a dress."</p><p>"A dress? Nicole, I haven't shaved my legs, let alone worn a dress, in the two years of my life I can actually recall. I don't know how to be all fancy around others, and - wait, what do you mean by traditional? She won't think we're together, will she?"</p><p>"Well, in the witch community...you never really know who goes together. She probably wouldn't be surprised if we were. But no, she'll probably judge you on...everything. She obsesses over appearances a lot more than I care for. Why do you think I dress like an accountant?" She gestured down at her high-quality clothes. </p><p>"I always thought you dressed more like what I'd think a science teacher dresses like." </p><p>"I'm not sure if that was a compliment or a diss, and it bothers me." Nicole canted her hips with a smile, pulling her suspenders from her shoulders.</p><p>"And your mother's a witch too?" Jane asked, a little excitement rising in her voice.</p><p>"Yeah. One of those coven leaders I mentioned. Real powerful. Do <em>not</em> ask her about magic though. Especially with Sunny there. She...won't be happy. Doesn't matter whether she thinks we're together or not, if you and Sunny are living with me, she'll make judgments about you like you are." She said, undoing the top button of her shirt. "Speaking of which, you keep bringing up you and I. I thought it was a joke in the car at first, but...you're not, you know..." She asked, covering herself a little out of instinct.</p><p>"Not what?"</p><p>"Gay?" Nicole smirked a little, dropping her guard. She was having far too much fun with this.</p><p>"Gay? Like, happy?" Jane seemed genuinely confused</p><p>"No, as in you like women. You know? Gay. Lesbian. Of the Sapphic persuasion. In Sunny's words, you like to 'kiss ladies'"</p><p>"Wait, no. I didn’t…know that’s what that even meant.” Jane seemed taken aback.</p><p>"Wow, magic-induced amnesia is a real bitch. I'm surprised you made it this far without figuring that out."</p><p>Jane took a moment to regain her composure, looking straight ahead into Nicole's eyes, not wanting to give her any more bait with careless staring. "I've been a bit too busy taking care of Sunny to get into all that nonsense. Don't give yourself so much credit, either. I'm tired, and you're teasing me on purpose." </p><p>"You look so cute when you're embarrassed. But being gay is a bit frowned upon in public, so don't make eyes at me at dinner." She said, winking sarcastically, causing Jane to turn a shade redder, puffing up her cheeks in rage.</p><p>"I am not cute, not gay, and not 'making eyes' at you, Nicole. I was just having a good old fashioned snoop through your home and you caught me off guard."</p><p>"Sure you were. I don't mind it, as long as you don't in front of my mother. She already thinks I'm a raging lesbian because of the way I dress, and now I have a woman moving in with me on the second time meeting her, which...well I don't know how much you've kept up with cultural trends, but that's a bit of a stereotype I want to avoid. So you're going to have to wear a dress. If you walk in there dressed like a plumber..." She sized Jane's attire up and down, "Well, she'll have a field day with that one."</p><p>"Well...are <em>you</em> gay, Nicole? Or are you just teasing me to get under my skin?"</p><p>Nicole laughed, "I get under everyone's skin, trust me. It’s fun to tease you, you puff up your cheeks and get really red, like you're about to burst. It's adorable."</p><p>Jane pushed past Nicole, a bit rougher than she meant to. "I'm going to shower."</p><p>Nicole remained silent, smiling to herself.</p><p> </p><p>The bell of the beauty salon door tinkled as the trio entered, and a tall, thin man in dark makeup, heavy eyeliner and black, well-groomed hair approached. </p><p>"Hey Nicole! You're here sooner than I expected." He said in a cheerful voice, approaching with a clipboard and pen</p><p>"Hey Neil. Was wondering if you could do a couple of walk-ins for us. My mother's in town and I need a trim. I'm treating some friends as well." She gestured to Sunny and Jane, and the man sized the two up.</p><p>"Sure, it's pretty dead here today anyway." He squatted down to be level with Sunny. "Hey sweetie, what's your name?"</p><p>"Sunny." The girl struggled to hide a smile. She was excited and nervous, a combination that even a precocious child like her found difficult to manage.</p><p>"Sunny! That's a cute name. You ready for a haircut, Sunny?" The man smiled, his sombre makeup clashing against his cheery mannerisms.</p><p>She nodded her head excitedly, and followed him towards a chair. Jane watched with Nicole as he set up a booster seat for her, explaining each step of the process to the inquisitive child.</p><p>"I noticed how he looked. Is he a witch too?" Jane asked.</p><p>"No, he's just a Goth. They’re like witches who don’t use magic. He's gay too, by the way." Nicole smiled, nudging Jane. "You're not alone in this world."</p><p>"Oh yeah? Of the ‘Sapphic persuasion’, as you call it?”</p><p>Nicole laughed again. "Girl, I'm just having too much fun with you. I'll explain what Sapphic means some other time. I don't even know if you <em>are</em> gay, really. Maybe you just can't resist these guns." Nicole flexed again, to a deadpan expression from Jane. "I hope you are, anyway. I'm having far too much fun as it is." </p><p>A woman in white, flowing dress girded by a barber's apron approached Neil and exchanged words with him a moment, and looked over towards Jane and Nicole, adjusting her flowing, brown hair.</p><p>"Okay, is she a witch or is she gay?" Jane asked sarcastically, smiling at the giggle her comment produced from Nicole.</p><p>"Neither. Well, she's not a witch; don't know if she's gay. That's Audrey." She said in a hushed voice, speaking up as the woman approached them. "Hey Audrey, this is my friend Jane. Was wondering if you could help her out."</p><p>"Of course..." Audrey replied in a singsong, trance-like voice. "Follow me." She beckoned, Jane following her to a chair, squirming uncomfortably as the sheet was buttoned around her neck. Audrey pulled the ribbon loose from Jane's hair, letting the thick waves of ash fall around her head. </p><p>"Ah, I see." Audrey held a few strips of Jane's white locks. "Such interesting hair. The color of ash, and it comes down in such beautiful squared tresses."</p><p>"Yeah, they call me Noodles because of it." Jane said dismissively. "How about you just shear it down to something easy to manage, or shave it all off."</p><p>Nicole interjected, hovering behind the two. "Remember, you're going to meet my mother, so keep it to something <em>presentable, </em>Jane."</p><p>Jane sighed in defeat, as the hairdresser inspected her hair further. She turned to look at Sunny, still deep in conversation with the male stylist, chatting away as her dirty blonde locks were snipped.</p><p>"Well, since your hair lacks color, how about we dye it? Of course we'd also have to do your brows, but-" </p><p>"Blonde and brown. To match her." Jane nodded towards Sunny.</p><p>"I see. Yes, we could certainly do that." Audrey said.</p><p>"No can do. That takes too long and we don't want to miss dinner." Nicole cut in again.</p><p>"Fine, then just do it short." Jane said. She didn't like looking at herself in the mirror. This place was too bright, a stranger was touching her head, and she couldn't even get her hair made to look like her daughter.</p><p>"A pageboy, like Princess Di? Or perhaps a nice bob, with straight bangs? This hair is very straight considering its thickness, so perhaps we could shape it a bit?" The stylist pushed and pulled Jane’s hair to show her the shapes of the haircuts, much to her poorly disguised chagrin.</p><p>Jane looked desperately at Nicole, who shrugged in response. "Hey, I've never had straight hair, I wouldn't know what to do." She said. Jane responded by puffing up her cheeks deliberately, causing Nicole to crack a smile.</p><p>"Fine...how about you just trim it down to chin length, Audrey? Leave some bangs up in front, but don't shape it too much. No product either, that's not her thing."</p><p>Jane exhaled. "Thanks Nicole."</p><p>"No problem, I usually knows what looks good on people." She said, checking her fastidiously manicured nails in the light of the barbershop. "I'm going to make a call, set up dinner. Do you and Sunny like Chinese food?" Jane nodded. "Great, I’m gonna use your phone real quick, Audrey." The stylist nodded as well, beginning to spray and comb through Jane's hair.</p><p> </p><p>Nicole had a hushed, aggressive conversation on the phone while Jane had her hair cut. The migraine that had been building all day was coming to a peak, the aggressive directions of the hairdresser, argument in the background from Nicole and chatter from Sunny, Jane closed her eyes, trying as hard as she could to ignore it all.</p><p>"All done!" Sunny shouted, charging up towards Jane, twirling to show off her shorter haircut as Neil swept up behind her. </p><p>"That looks great, baby! I'm almost done too. Or, I hope..." She looked over at her hairdresser. </p><p>"Yes, just let me brush off your neck." Audrey replied, seemingly miffed at the question.</p><p>"Sunny was really well-behaved during her cut." Neil said. "I haven't gotten to cut a kid's hair in a while, so I'm glad it worked out.</p><p>"That's good-" Jane began.</p><p>"Mommy, look at this part!" Sunny leaned in to show off her bangs.</p><p>"Yes I saw-"</p><p>"Alright, that took longer than I expected." Nicole said, adjusting her jacket. "Dinner's in a few hours, we should finish up here soon."</p><p>"Well I-" Jane began again, getting increasingly flustered.</p><p>"Yes, Nicole I have a chair open right here for you." Neil said.</p><p>"There you go!" Audrey pulled the sheet off of Jane with a flourish. "How does it look?"</p><p>In response, Jane stood up and wailed a choked scream, running out of the salon, leaving the rest in stunned silence for a bit.</p><p>"I thought it looked pretty good." Nicole offered dryly with an awkward smile. "I'm...I'll go check up on her." She said, walking out of the shop briskly, finding Jane leaning against the wall outside, hugging her knees.</p><p>"You alright Jane?"</p><p>"I'm fine."</p><p>"Because it seemed like you just fucking lost it over a haircut."</p><p>"Sorry." Jane buried her head between her knees. Nicole leaned against the wall, sliding down next to Jane.</p><p>"Don't apologize. I think it looks great."</p><p>"It's not about the haircut. It's the…" Jane gesticulated in lieu of a word she couldn't find, "Everything. It's all so much. I woke up homeless in New York with a cold cup of chicken noodle soup for breakfast, and now I'm in Boston, freezing my tits off outside of a fancy gay witch salon, knowing there's going to be food in my daughter's belly and a roof over our heads tonight. I got chased by a witch, who I was almost convinced was an alien. Then she melted into a tar monster in front of me and I couldn’t even move to protect Sunny. I found out magic exists and half the people who use it want to eat my daughter, and that they're the reason I know less about anything, from world history to basic social skills, than said daughter. Who is also a witch, something I found out from you, my best friend who I have only met twice and is, once again, a witch. Hell, I might be a witch too, which I’m not entirely sure what that is in the first place. On top of that, I might be gay, which I’m also extremely confused about,” She took a moment to catch her breath, “Seven hours ago I was fleeing for my life; now I'm feeling the wind blowing through this fancy twenty dollar haircut and waiting for dinner with your mother and kid."</p><p>"They actually charge sixty bucks per haircut."</p><p>"Holy shit."</p><p>"That's actually a pretty reasonable rate in this city." Nicole gripped Jane's hand, warming it from the cold Boston breeze. "I should apologize. I see Sunny just roll with the punches, because she doesn't think in the long term. I kind of do that, honestly. I'm terrible at planning ahead. I just expected you to be able to roll with it too. I guess I underestimated you, from your amnesia. Expected you to be like Sunny. Just a wide-eyed kid with a no memories, no history. That's my fault. I didn't even ask you if you wanted to stay with me, or if you wanted to meet my mother. I should have considered your opinions on it, valued what you might think. I'm sorry." She gave Jane's hand another squeeze. “I took your situation for granted, because I didn’t consider you to have more of a head on your shoulder’s than me.”</p><p>"It's alright. I just...I don't know. I think I'm shyer, deep down, than I'm allowed to be. I think without Sunny, I'd just be hiding in the shadows. I don't like noise, or light, or big spaces. Traffic, people talking, strangers breathing on me. I just want to curl up in a box and be left alone forever. But Sunny...I have to take care of her. I'd do any of it, if it means protecting her. And now that I know she's safe? That she's with someone who can give her what she needs? I just feel like I'm being dragged along for the ride. I'd never leave her, but," Jane looked back down. "I think you'd make a better mother for her than me."</p><p>Nicole smiled. "Well, you've already had proof by way of Molly that I'm not exactly the world's best mom. But hey, as long as you want to stay with me, we can try to do it as a team."</p><p>"You mean it?" Jane looked back up, meeting eyes with Nicole.</p><p>"Of course." Nicole leaned in closer. “We’re a team now, Jane. A family.”</p><p>Jane leaned in to kiss her, parting her lips in a desperate whisper. "Nicole, I-"</p><p>Nicole pulled back. "Ha! You're definitely gay!"</p><p>Jane was immediately flushed, pulling herself back and pushing her now shorter hair from her face. "What? But, wait- you?"</p><p>"You should see the look on your face!" Nicole laughed, standing back up and offering a hand to the once-more flustered Jane.</p><p>"You ass! You ruined a perfectly good moment." Jane said, grinning under her blush.</p><p>"Well worth it to see you get all sappy like that. Now come inside, it's cold and I still have to pay for your hair, plus get mine trimmed.”</p><p>The two entered the salon together, the flush of embarrassment still on Jane's face.</p><p> </p><p>"These stockings itch." Jane complained, fixing the bow in Sunny's hair.</p><p>"Because you didn't shave your legs."</p><p>"I have never shaved my legs."</p><p>"Well that's why they itch. Try and forget how it feels, you look fantastic in that dress." Nicole said, proud that her fashion sense came through once more for Jane.</p><p>"You really do look pretty, Mom." Sunny said, tugging at the hem of her skirt.</p><p>"My legs are cold and I look ridiculous." Jane complained, picking at the tight cocktail dress Nicole had gotten for her.</p><p>"Strange how your legs could get so cold with all that snow-white hair down there." Nicole jabbed, checking her well-groomed hair in the mirror and adjusting her maroon velvet bow tie, straightening the lapel of her matching suit.</p><p>"Look, this is just a Chinese joint, I don't know why we're dressed so fancy." Jane protested.</p><p>"Because if I know anything about my mother, she'll have out-dressed us to the nines. Molly too. Besides, this isn't some Chinese take-out place like you would’ve had in New York. This is a dine in, sit-down restaurant, so I want you two on your best behavior."</p><p>"Yes, Nicole." Jane and Sunny responded simultaneously, with varying degrees of sarcasm.</p><p>"Oh, and another warning before you meet my mother. I'm adopted; so don't call her "Saint-Etienne". That's my last name, not hers, and she will make you very aware of that."</p><p>"Oh thank God." Jane sighed in relief as they all climbed from the car, walking towards the front door of the restaurant. "I can barely pronounce your surname. What do I call her?"</p><p>"Her full name is Phaedra Valentina Kairoglou. And no, she doesn't have any nicknames."</p><p>"Fantastic." Jane sighed to herself as Nicole opened the door of the restaurant, steeling her resolve. She took Sunny's small hand in her own and squeezed it, closing her eyes and savoring the reassuring squeeze in response.</p><p>Once more unto the breach of social interaction.</p><p> </p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>I wanted to save the gayer stuff for later but this IS Ao3 and I gotta give the people what they want.</p>
        </blockquote></div></div>
<a name="section0003"><h2>3. One Big Unhappy</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Jane prepares for the most awkward dinner of her life.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Gee wowee bob, my "break" wasn't supposed to be this long. Executive dysfunction junction over here!</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p> </p><p>Jane and Sunny pushed in close behind Nicole, desperate to get out of the Boston chill. The restaurant was fancier than any they’d been in, even when treating themselves on holidays with fast food or take-out. There were red and gold decorations everywhere, scarlet-painted walls with mahogany furnishings. Nicole approached the maître-de, standing behind a little podium.</p><p>“Hello, should be a reservation for five? Under the name Kairoglou?” Nicole said, approaching the maître-de.</p><p>The young man looked at a list on his podium before retrieving a few menus. “Follow me to your table, the other parties have been expecting you.”</p><p>“Of course.” Nicole sighed through her nose. There were hints of anxiety in her voice and behavior, something Jane hadn’t seen in her before. They followed the man to a large table of dark stained wood, Sunny bouncing along happily. Already seated at the table was a woman who looked to be at most in her early fifties, a severe face and perfect posture. She looked Mediterranean to Jane, with intense and beautiful features, curvy body wrapped in a tight dress, red and gold, perfectly styled to suit her, like it was custom made (it probably was). She looked like she was made to fit into the restaurant’s decor itself, or more like the restaurant was planned and built around her; her dark brown hair pulled behind her head in a tight bun, a single curl of sable hanging down to her forehead. Seated next to her in a crisp pressed dress shirt with a small bowtie and an expensive-looking black suspender skirt was a young girl about Sunny’s age, with straight black hair and a smattering of freckles splashed across her nose, inquisitive little eyes measuring up the newcomers to the table, as if she was sitting at a high-stakes poker game. Jane looked at the girl, then back up at Nicole. The girl had much lighter skin, mocha compared to Nicole’s cocoa; glaring, cold, intense eyes compared to Nicole’s energetic and warm eyes, but they shared a graceful, soft nose and delicate, well-shaped lips…Jane extricated her gaze from Nicole’s face and followed her lead as the maître-de passed out the leather-bound menus.</p><p>“A server will be here to help you shortly.” He said, with an almost pretentious bow.</p><p>“Thank you, that will be all…” The older woman said. Her tone was commanding and firm. Jane gulped. She had no idea of decorum or manners, and this lady was all class. The maître-de left, with Nicole standing between the table and her new houseguests. Jane fiddled with the white silk ribbon tied around her wrist nervously. Her hair was too short to tie back any longer so she had decided to use it as a sort of accent piece to her outfit, more out of an anxious nostalgia for something familiar.</p><p>“Mother. Molly.” Nicole nodded professionally towards them, regarding her own mother and child as if they were business associates, stepping aside to present the fidgety, tired pair of newcomers. “This is Jane and Sunny, they’re staying with me for now. Jane, Sunny, this is my mother: Phaedra Valentina Kairoglou, and daughter, Molly.”</p><p>Jane opened her mouth to introduce herself, but Sunny was first to stride forward, bounding forward with the endless excitement only a child could produce. “Molly! I’ve been really excited to meet you!” She said, climbing into the chair next to the child. Molly extended a hand.</p><p>“Yes, well-“</p><p>Sunny, still bouncing with excitement, pulled her in for a hug instead of accepting the offered handshake, from which she only released her peer upon gazing at Phaedra.</p><p>“You’re Nicole’s mom?” She asked, with badly hidden wonder as Molly pulled back, ruffled in both outfit and disposition.</p><p>“Y-yes, adoptive mother, but-” The woman sputtered, caught off-guard by the sudden inquisition.</p><p>“You don’t look anything like a grandma!” Sunny said, “Like, you’re really pretty, and fancy!” She added, to clarify her statement.</p><p>“Oh, why thank you, my dear.” The woman was momentarily disarmed by Sunny’s beaming smile and excitement as Molly stared, miffed at being ignored. The freckly little child straightened her bow tie and opened her menu. Jane smiled. She definitely shared a familiar quality of sharpness with Nicole. She sat down next to Sunny as Nicole breathed a sigh of relief and sat at the large round table across from her mother with a Lazy Susan between them.</p><p>Jane cleared her throat. “Yes, uh, you’ve met Sunny. I’m her mom, Jane.” She felt parched for some reason, and felt a bead of sweat trickling uncomfortably down her back.</p><p>“Yes, Nicole already introduced you.” The older woman responded, clearly unimpressed at Jane’s ghostly appearance compared to the starburst of energy that was Sunny. Her dark eyes flickered between Jane and Sunny for a moment, before opening again. “You don’t look quite like your daughter.” She said. The words speared Jane right in her insecurities.</p><p>“Well, you don’t quite look like yours, or your granddaughter either, miss Cairo-glue.” Jane blurted out in her attempt at a rhetorical riposte, fumbling Phaedra’s surname hard enough for Nicole to visibly cringe.</p><p>“Nicole is adopted, as I’m sure she told you in her attempt to distance herself from me as hard as she could. Can I assume Sunny is the same?”</p><p>The normally confident Nicole shrunk back into her chair. Jane never thought it was possible for Nicole to be so cowed into submission. For some reason, it pissed her off, at both Nicole and Phaedra. She sat back in the chair, her narrow eyes becoming dark slits framed by fluffy ivory eyelashes.</p><p>“Sunny’s just not albino like me, that’s why we don’t look ‘similar’. We don’t need to, we’re still family.” She said, huffing through her nose. She thought of gripping Sunny’s hand from under the table, but braced herself to do this alone. “And I treat her better than you seem to treat Nicole.”</p><p>Phaedra’s mouth twisted for a moment, like she had sucked on a lemon.</p><p>“You have no idea about our family. You have no clue, nor any right to assume-“</p><p>“Are you all ready to order?” A young waitress with impossibly poor timing had saved the day by interrupting Phaedra from a furious speech, and for that, Jane will always admire her. The rage disappeared from Phaedra’s face almost instantly, and she looked at the waitress with a hard but almost relieved expression, as if cutting her off had saved her the trouble of having to excuse her blowing Jane to smithereens with pure rage.</p><p>“Yes, I believe we are. We’ll have a pot of tea for the table, with pot stickers, egg drop soup, and dumplings; and whatever other appetizers you want.” Phaedra looked across the table at her daughter, and Nicole snapped to attention with the same speed and polite grace as her mother.</p><p>“Yes, and some Crab Rangoon.” She said to the waitress, “Mother, you still like the Szechuan Shrimp?” She did not wait for an answer, as if it was only a customary expression, a show for the waitress that they were all one big happy family. “We’ll have an order of the Szechuan Shrimp then. Jane?”</p><p>Jane was still preparing barbs for Phaedra in her head, and hadn’t even cared to think about what she wanted to eat. All of a sudden her hunger hit her like a dump truck, and she scrambled to look at her unopened menu. She realized she had no clue what most of it said – her limited ability to read did not lend itself well to roughly translated Mandarin and lists of ingredients she barely knew of. She turned to Sunny, who had mirrored the tight posture of Molly to the point it looked almost mocking, both of them flipping through their menus like princesses. Jane almost wanted to laugh. “Uh, Sunny, what do I usually get?”</p><p>“You get beef and broccoli when we have Chinese, mom, but the broccoli here is different-“</p><p>“I’ll have the beef and broccoli, then.” Jane said to the waitress. Sunny put down her menu and sighed with the precocious maturity of an old soul and smiled at the waitress.</p><p>“I’ll have the chicken lo mein please.”</p><p>The waitress nodded.</p><p>“Chicken fried rice with salted fish, please.” Molly said, her quiet but serious voice giving Sunny’s maturity a run for its money. If Sunny was an ‘old soul’ then Molly’s was downright ancient. Jane began fiddling with the knot of the ribbon on her wrist again as the waitress confirmed the order with Phaedra, becoming dangerously aware of how hungry she was and how close her belly was to gurgling in desperation. The waitress took their menus and left for the kitchen, safe from the awkwardness radiating from the table. Sunny was the first to break the silence.</p><p>“So, Molly, what do you like?”</p><p>“Reading.”</p><p>“Anything else? Video games? Comic books?”</p><p>“I suppose comic books would fall under the purview of reading, but I’ve not had the pleasure-“</p><p>“I love comic books! So I guess we both like reading, huh? We should trade our favorite books sometime.”</p><p>Molly relented. Even for a creepy, perfect little doll like her, Sunny’s infectious positivity was able to break through, and she afforded a tiny, polite smile. “I suppose we can sometime.”</p><p>Nicole remembered, but hadn’t yet overcome her sudden nervousness. “Yeah, well…you two are going to be spending a lot of time together, since you’ll be living with me. With us.”</p><p>Molly’s thick eyebrows shot up in surprise, but her expression remained unchanged otherwise. Phaedra turned to Nicole again.</p><p>“So you mean you’re taking everyone in? Nicole, trust me when I say you’re wholly unprepared for motherhood.”</p><p>“Neither were you, and I turned out fine.”</p><p>“That <em>isn’t</em> what I meant.”</p><p>“Besides, Jane’s raised Sunny into a fine little lady herself, so I’ll have an expert mom with me as well.”</p><p>“You mean to say, you and this Jane will be raising Sunny – and Molly (She seemed to add her in as an afterthought), together? When can I expect the wedding invitation?”</p><p>“It’s hardly like that!” Jane spoke up. “We’ll just be housemates, it’s not like we’re together or anything. Nicole and I are just friends.”</p><p>“I hear your kind can get married in Vermont, you know. Awfully cold place for a wedding, but then again I’ve only seen it in movies.” Phaedra continued as if she hadn’t even heard Jane.</p><p>“Mother. I can’t spend all my time alone in that apartment. Molly can’t spend all her time attached to your hip, and Jane and Sunny need a place to stay until they’re back on their feet. This is a win-win for everyone involved.”</p><p>“It’s not a win for me. If you and Jane are such good friends, why haven’t I met her before now? Is she a work friend?” The way Phaedra emphasized the word “work”; even Jane caught its implication.</p><p>“Sort of. And you have heard of her. Remember, a while back, that accident in Ohio? Jane and Sunny were…displaced, during that whole thing. They still haven’t found a place to stay. I thought it was best to give them a stable home so Sunny can have a normal childhood, and Jane can go on being the great mother she is.” Jane beamed at Nicole, the mild compliment warming her inside out.</p><p>“If you want that child to have any semblance of a <em>normal</em> childhood, you’d relieve her of her parent and raise her with a husband.”</p><p>Jane balled her fists up and prepared a retort, but was surprised when Sunny spoke up first. “I’m not leaving my mommy, and you’re mean for even asking!” Phaedra looked hurt, as if the mildest of insults from a child really did wound her, or if her reputation within the eyes of Sunny really mattered to her. She opened her mouth to respond, but the waitress once again interrupted, setting down a set of five cups, a pot of tea, and the appetizers from a tray onto the Lazy Susan. Another waiter helped and placed a glass of water and a small plate in front of each of them.</p><p>“We’ll be back with your entrees, ‘kay?” and the wonderful waitress with the perfectly bad timing left once again with Jane’s adoration for defusing the tenseness of the table.</p><p>“Alright, alright. I give you both my blessing.” Phaedra said with resignation, winking mischievously at Sunny. ‘<em>So she’s a human after all’</em> thought Jane, who deflated with a sigh.</p><p>“We’re not in any kind of relationship, Miss Phaedra.” Jane said, trying to hide the regret of that truth as best she could.</p><p>“I know Nicole, <em>Miss Jane</em>, and it’s not the first time I’ve heard someone say that. She’s…a magnetic person. The best trait I’ve passed on to her, I think. And the most tiresome.”</p><p>A small muscle at the base of Nicole’s jaw flexed, and she rolled the Lazy Susan around, grabbing a cup and pouring some tea, before placing it back on the rotating pedestal, and repeated this action four times until there was an evenly spaced cup of tea for each of them, like spokes on a wheel. Everyone seemed to know what to do and grabbed a cup, sipping lightly. Jane was the least comfortable with the situation but she knew when to go with the flow. Her curiosity and hunger overwhelmed her, and she starting rolling the wheel awkwardly until the appetizers faced her. She grasped a chopstick like a javelin and speared the nearest dumpling, dragging it and the plate of other dumplings to herself like a cavewoman dragging a wildebeest to her cave. Phaedra watched with undisguised disgust and Nicole sighed a little, a smile mingling with her embarrassment. Jane had no clue what else to do with her chopstick and, with the delicate grace of someone who thought they were being very polite, stabbed it deeper into the dumpling and pulled it up to her mouth, biting like it was a chicken leg. She saw how awkward was seen by the others, and instead of allowing the wave of embarrassment that was turning her empty stomach upside-down, she decided to double down and take another bite of dumpling.<br/>
“Please, Nicole, for my sake, teach her some manners when you’re living together.”</p><p>“I’ll do my best, mother.” Nicole said, the mirth returning to her voice as she prepared herself plate of food, and picked the dumpling plate from in front of Jane and replaced it onto the Lazy Susan. “We share each dish here, Jane. That’s what your plate is for.” She explained patiently. Jane nodded and swallowed. “Just…watch and follow. You’ll get the hang of it.”</p><p>After a long, quiet, and dreadfully awkward dinner of Nicole quietly showing Jane how to eat Chinese food properly (Jane had always just scarfed whatever she and Sunny had gotten from the takeout places back home), they had all eaten their fill. Jane was at first upset at the gai lan served with her beef, but took an incredible liking to it once she had a taste. They were all full to the brim by the end, with Sunny nearly comatose from the sodium and fat intake into her hungry belly. It was the biggest meal they’d had in a while, and even Jane felt sleepy – she realized it was only this morning that she had run away from New York, a horrid bubbling witch-creature about to engulf them, and had been riding high on adrenaline and the bubbling sunshine of her daughter the entire day. It had all seemed like it was years ago, the canned soup she had for breakfast barely at the edge of her very empty hippocampus. She was so tired that she barely remembered picking Sunny up from the table, leaving and saying goodbye to the staff of the Chinese restaurant, sitting next to Nicole for the car ride home, or lurching at her uncomfortably full stomach heaving from the amount she stuffed it. Nicole’s tinkling, music box laugh as she followed her back inside. Or even laying Sunny and Molly on the guest bed, tucking her child in and looking across at Nicole doing the same. She felt that had all been a dream, and that she was now only waking up, sitting in the sparse living room on a stylishly uncomfortable couch, with Phaedra looking out the window and Nicole sitting backwards in a chair from the dining table.</p><p>“Well now, Sunny is aptly named.” Phaedra said, with all the deep sultriness of a brooding noir starlet.</p><p>“How so?” Jane asked, grateful for the sudden lapse in the silence.</p><p>“Her energy…it drowns yours out. I couldn’t even get a read on you at the restaurant, she was so…much. Now that she’s asleep, I can get a better eye on you.”</p><p>“Yeah, she’s a little hyperactive, but-”</p><p>“That’s not what I mean. Her <em>magical</em> energy. Her presence is like it’s almost threatening to tear a hole in the collective unconscious itself. She’s like a supernova among candles. I was…I am afraid of her.”</p><p>“She’s just a kid, mother.” Nicole offered.</p><p>“You’d do well to fear her as well. She is not ‘just a kid’. She’s a witch. A terribly powerful witch. One that shouldn’t exist.”</p><p>“So what, is this some prophecy fulfillment? Is my kid some kind of chosen one? ‘<em>The first-born of the albino, cursed forever with burdensome power’</em> or some kind of old crap like that?” Jane scoffed.</p><p>“No. Magical ability isn’t inherent. Everyone has the ability to become a witch, like any skill. It’s an atrophied muscle of humanity, one that the world has outgrown. You can still use it, but it’s powered by the Gestalt, the collective unconscious, the latticework of souls that populates this world. It’s a skill you can learn to use, like cooking or sewing.”</p><p>“Then why is Sunny apparently so powerful?”</p><p>“She shouldn’t be. Sometimes, a child is born with…talent. They shine brighter, become witches easier. Nicole was one such child, in fact. Just like some people are talented chefs or seamstresses, witchcraft comes naturally to them. Unfortunately, they’re also targets. I protected Nicole, taking her in; keeping her safe from…the more dangerous witches. People who will do anything to push their limits further. Even if it means eating the bodies and souls of other witches. Defenseless children like Sunny are just easier targets for them.”</p><p>“So my kid’s got crazy potential? Why don’t we teach her some witchcraft! Have her be able to protect herself, throw some fireballs.”</p><p>Nicole laced her fingers and rested her chin on top of them. “If we unlock that bubble of potential, I have no clue what would happen. She could blow herself up, not just physically, but through the magical gestalt itself. Witches from ten miles away would have their brains burst into flames just from the blowback of her popping that bubble.” She huffed through her nose. “Still though, it’s incredible potential.”</p><p>“It’s more than potential.” Phaedra said. “There’s more power locked in that child than even I have at my disposal. This isn’t just magical aptitude- someone locked their power away in that child.”</p><p>“Who? Who the fuck would have done that?” Jane’s voice was hoarse with desperation.</p><p>Phaedra looked at Jane. “Perhaps you? Nicole told me you have no memory of the attack. Allegedly. Maybe you locked your powers away in your child, lost your memories in the process somehow.”</p><p>Jane moved faster than she knew herself capable, and was standing a few feet away from Phaedra, her fists raised in a stance that felt natural to her.</p><p>“Mother, don’t antagonize her like that. We both know that Jane isn’t capable of that.”</p><p>“That’s right, you old bag. I would NEVER do that to my own child.”</p><p>“Sit down, Jane.” Nicole pleaded, and Jane obeyed. “I mean that you’re physically and magically incapable of it. We’ve both had a good look at your magical signature.”</p><p>Phaedra smoothed out her already creaseless dress. She actually seemed a bit scared of Jane, and there was more respect in her voice. “Yes. Sorry, Jane. I don’t think it’s actually possible for you to transfer that power to Sunny. My theory is incomplete and I didn’t know it would…affect you like that. Even without memory of your spells, or faculty to recall your powers, we can sense your attunement. Your memory, your consciousness: those are the skin of your soul. Just like without your flesh and blood, your outward appearance would not work without your skin, so does your soul to your being. Even without your memories, we see the extent of your magical muscle and-“</p><p>“Get to the point.” Jane growled. “What kind of witch am I? Was I? How strong can I get to protect Sunny?”</p><p>“You were a dismal failure of a witch. A complete hack.” Phaedra said.</p><p>“Oh…” Jane said. She felt disappointed, and very small all of a sudden. Nicole smiled weakly.</p><p>“We can’t say that for sure,” She said, “Only that the space your magical reserves welled up in was very…. Atrophied. There’s not enough space for even a fraction of Sunny’s power, and that’s just what her soul is radiating constantly.”</p><p>“I get it. I sucked at magic. I suck even worse now that I forgot everything about it.” Jane said, defeated. “Do you at least know what <em>type</em> of magic I can do? Can I shoot fireballs or turn people into toads?”</p><p>“Pyromancy and thaumaturgy would have been far beyond you.” Phaedra approached, a bit too close, and touched Jane’s cheek. “Your tattoos would suggest illusion magic, or at least a desire to be able to dispel them for yourself, but I doubt you capable of more than basic sortilege and legerdemain. In a fight, you’d barely be able to produce a simple ward. Honestly, you could pass as a normal human.”</p><p>Jane rolled the words <em>“legerdemain” and “sortilege”</em> in her mouth for a second. Her disappointment was fading, replaced by determination. “If I can pass as a normal human and stay off the witches’ radar, then I’m the last thing they’ll expect to save Sunny from them.”</p><p>“Yes, just as a fly would be the last thing you’d expect to save a steak dinner from someone.” Phaedra rolled her eyes. “We’re being hunted to extinction. If not by each other, then by witch hunters and otherworld beings. Witchcraft is a dying art, dying to the world that doesn’t need it anymore. The Gestalt grows weaker and weaker the few people believe in it.”</p><p>“So it’s like Santa Claus? Magic is literally powered by the daydreams of children?”</p><p>“Nicole, explain.” Phaedra rolled her eyes again so hard it looked painful. Nicole cleared her throat, and Jane was ready to listen, eager to just hear someone else speak.</p><p>“So, the Gestalt is the living network of people’s imagination, pretty much. It’s a bit like multiverse theory.” Upon seeing Jane’s blank stare returned to her, she rolled her shoulders and prepared to launch into a bigger explanation. “Okay, so really simply, multiverse theory means that with every decision you make, another timeline is created where you didn’t make that decision. With the more decisions everyone makes, the more timelines are created. Since there are infinite decisions to make, infinite timelines, right?”<br/>
Jane wanted to scream into her hands but instead nodded as if she understood a word that was just said to her.<br/>
“Okay, so the Gestalt is that, but with your imagination. Or maybe, the Gestalt and the multiverse are the same, commingled thing. Witches have studied them for generations and at this point it’s all just theory. But when you imagine something, that <em>something</em> you imagine is real, in the Gestalt. It has to be, or it would be unimaginable. There <em>are</em> unimaginable things, but…they’re best left unimagined.”</p><p>Jane nodded again, hoping that it would eventually sink in for her.</p><p>“Everything that exists, exists as information. From computer code to the DNA in our bodies to the atoms in this chair. So the Gestalt translates this data through a language that we call Magic. When I use my magic to create, say, a sphere of water, I’m <em>speaking</em> it into existence, here, in our reality, using the language of the Gestalt. It’s a stream of data that controls reality itself, or rather, transfers things between realities.”</p><p>“I think I need a nap.” Jane said.</p><p>“Just, hold on for a bit. I will try to make sense of this.”</p><p>“No, just…MAGIC. Just say MAGIC. That’s all you needed to do! When you break it down into data and DNA and computer code and Gestalts and shit, it’s just boring word vomit. Nicole, <em>magic</em> doesn’t need an explanation, it just <em>is. </em>If you can summon a sphere of water, I don’t care about the fine details; I am just going to piss myself in excitement that you <em>just summoned some water</em> <em>from thin air</em>. In fact, all the magic I have seen so far is that creepy bitch with the umbrella turning into a literal nightmare and you somehow driving from Boston to New York in fifteen minutes.”</p><p>“Ah, I used a spell to fold space a bit and speed things along a bit, through a rather tricky use of thauma-”</p><p>“<em>I don’t care</em>. You used <em>magic</em> to beat the traffic. That’s awesome enough. It’s cool. Now if you both don’t mind, I’m going to get a glass of water, brush my teeth, and fall the fuck asleep.”</p><p>“You don’t need a glass.” Nicole said, holding her hands in front of her like she was carrying an invisible dodgeball. She moved her lips, but no sound came out. For a moment, Jane thought this was all just a huge practical joke. But then a clear droplet sprung into existence between her hands, gurgling and growing until it was a bubble of water about the size of a tennis ball suspended in the air between Nicole’s hands. She gestured slightly and the sphere moved through the air and stopped in front of Jane, who was slack-jawed with amazement.</p><p>“Nicole, I-“</p><p>“Go ahead.” Nicole’s delicate laugh tinkled in the background. Jane’s focus was entirely on the marvelous, floating ball of water in front of her, sloshing like it was about to fall apart. She poked it slightly, and it rippled. Her finger felt wet, and she inspected it with shameless curiosity.</p><p>“It’s real water. Honestly, I don’t get what all the fuss is about.” Phaedra sighed in the background, gathering up her handbag. “If it’s all the same to you, I’ll take my leave now.”</p><p>“Goodbye Mother. I’ll call you in the morning.”</p><p>Jane just waved her off impatiently, transfixed by the water. She was vaguely aware of the apartment door closing, but didn’t care to even divert her attention to Phaedra’s leave. After what felt like an eternity, Nicole returned, laughing again.</p><p>“Well? You going to take a sip? Holding it in place for this long isn’t something most witches could do.” Nicole shrugged with mock smugness. “I guess I’m just that incredible a witch, though.”</p><p>“Nicole. You are. You’re the most incredible witch I’ve ever seen.”</p><p>“Not much competition, seeing as I can count the witches you have met on one hand. Take a sip, dummy.”</p><p>Jane awkwardly pushed forward, kissing the water, and took a sip. It was the purest water she’s ever tasted. It surprised her how good it was, especially with how thirsty she suddenly felt. She gulped it down like an astronaut in zero gravity, and turned to stare at Nicole with newfound awe. The realization hit her like a ton of bricks.</p><p>“You’re a witch. Witches, magic… they’re real.”</p><p>Nicole laughed again. “I thought we’d gone over this.”</p><p>“It’s finally sinking in. I woke up homeless in New York this morning, and right now…”</p><p>“Right now you need some sleep. It’s been a big day for you, I’ll blow up the air mattress in the study and we can work out a sleeping arrangement tomorrow. Get changed out of that dress and into some sleep clothes, girl. We have another big day tomorrow.”</p><p>Jane nodded sleepily, and sauntered off for her backpack in the guest room, moving slowly so as not to wake up the sleeping kids. Nicole's smile dissolved when she felt something touch her lip. She dabbed a finger against it, and looked at it with a gray, disappointed expression. '<em>A nosebleed, from a simple party trick? Nicole Saint Etienne, you're losing your touch.' </em>She thought to herself, hastily wiping her nose and moving off to the study to blow up the air mattress for Jane. The lights of Phaedra's car pulling out of the parking lot filled the big apartment for a moment, and darkness once again fell onto the now-full home of witches.</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0004"><h2>4. First Day Home</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>Jane and Sunny enjoy their first day in a home in three years. Sunny gets to spend the day relaxing with her new pal Molly, but Jane uses the opportunity to get some more information on witches and the Gestalt</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Trying to post these more regularly, to see if that will get more engagement.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It had been the first good, long sleep that Jane had in months. She was usually jumpy, waking up at dawn and listening intently for suspicious noises, either someone at the shelter rifling through their things or the sounds of over-inquisitive joggers or NYC beat cops looking to take out some frustration on someone from the homeless encampment, praying that it wouldn’t be her – or worse, Sunny. The house was silent, all through the night and well into morning.</p>
<p>It wouldn’t last, as Jane’s ears pricked up at the sound of something sizzling in a pan. Her eyes still closed, she sniffed inquisitively at the air. Bacon? She sat up, the slightly deflated air mattress sagging around her as she struggled to roll out of the blankets and quilts Nicole had given her. ‘<em>I wonder if these blankets were summoned like that water?’</em> Jane wondered to herself, feeling a quilt between her fingers as if she could detect magic just by guessing the thread count. She was giddy – <em>magic</em> was real. Sunny would be even more excited…but Sunny was also the one person she couldn’t tell about it. She huffed, and picked up the quilt, wrapping it around herself like it was her new prized possession, and hopped off the blow-up mattress.<br/>“Cold!”<br/>She immediately lifted her feet off the frigid wooden floors, grabbing her boots from the side of the bed and pulling out her threadbare socks tucked within. Now shod with her new armor, she braved the frozen floorboards once more, with more success. <br/>“Now, about that bacon…”</p>
<p>She’d expected to find Nicole, probably in some silk pajama set, cooking breakfast with her usual casual demeanor, already perfectly made-up and jangling with her intricate earrings, but instead she found Molly, standing on a step-stool in front of the stove, pushing bacon around in a cast-iron skillet with the same bored-looking expression she had in the restaurant. <br/><br/>“Ah, was wondering which of you would wake up first.” The girl said, not even looking up from the pan. She was already fully dressed in a small skirt-and-blouse affair; she even wore an apron over her perfect little outfit. Her straight hair was tied up in two little buns on the top of her head, and to Jane looked like a little doll some insufferably nerdy child would have but never actually play with, only keep for display. Jane then realized that Molly was probably that insufferably nerdy kind of child, and grimaced in preparation with dealing with her.</p>
<p>“Yeah, sorry, I usually wake up way earlier than this. What time is it, by the way? And where’s your mom?” Jane asked, scratching her snowy head.</p>
<p>“Eight Fifty-Two in the morning. Nicole is out right now.”</p>
<p>“You call you own mother by her first name?”</p>
<p>“Aren’t you on first name terms with <em>your</em> mother?” Molly responded dryly, casting a sidelong glance at Jane with the same expression one might have for a leper that had wondered in off the streets.</p>
<p>“I…don’t know. So Nicole’s at work?”</p>
<p>“She’s out.” Affirmed the child, flipping the bacon onto a paper towel-lined plate and stepping lightly down from her stepstool, dusting off her already spotless apron. Normally, Jane would have fawned over how adorable this little princess was, if not for her coming off so catty and dry.</p>
<p>“Do you usually have to make breakfast like this for Nicole?”</p>
<p>“I don’t live with Nicole, I live with Phaedra. Or, I should say, I <em>lived</em> with Phaedra. It seems I’m stuck here until Nicole loses interest in being a parent again. Then it’s back home for me.”</p>
<p>“You’re a cynical little bitch, aren’t you?” Jane snapped, before realizing she was talking to an eight-year-old. “I-I mean, you’re-”</p>
<p>Molly held up a hand to silence her, and Jane complied. She had such a refined and commanding demeanor that Jane kept forgetting she was the same age as Sunny.<br/>“You don’t have to treat me like a child. I’m not going to melt down over your lack of self-control.”</p>
<p>“Fair enough. Just don’t tell your mother I called you that. Or Sunny.”</p>
<p>Molly nodded. “You have my word.” She turned towards the fridge and opened it, reaching up to the eggs. Coming up a bit short, she walked back over to her stepstool. Jane moved forward and grabbed the eggs herself, closing up the fridge.</p>
<p>“I’ll take over from here, little lady!” Jane laughed, tousling Molly’s hair and pushing up the sleeves of the old flannel shirt she had slept in.</p>
<p>“Without even washing your hands?” The little girl protested, busying herself with one of the buns in her hair that had come loose from Jane’s teasing.</p>
<p>“They’re eggs! They came out of a chicken’s ass, not like they’ll get any dirtier with my hands on ‘em!” Jane said, again forgetting whom she was talking to. “Oh, uh, ‘ass’ is also a bad word.”</p>
<p>“Hardly. Make sure to put the bacon back into the skillet as it cools down, so it’s hot when they’re served.”</p>
<p>“Gotcha. How do you like your eggs? Sunny only likes ‘em scrambled.”</p>
<p>“Scrambled will be fine, thank you.” Molly said, sitting down to re-tie her troublesome buns. Jane hummed the little tune that was always stuck in her head while she cracked the eggs, tossing the shells into the sink next to the oven as she worked.</p>
<p>“You didn’t answer my question, you know.” Jane chided quietly.</p>
<p>“Yes I did, I said I’d have scrambled eggs.”</p>
<p>“No, from before. Do you cook breakfast often?”</p>
<p>“Oh. No, I don’t, but I like cooking. Whenever I can, and whatever I can learn.”</p>
<p>“Me too! We should cook dinner together then. I work miracles with a packet of ramen and some chicken bits.”</p>
<p>“Chicken…bits?” Molly asked, perturbed.</p>
<p>“Ah, yeah. I guess I can work with a whole chicken now. Suppose you and I are both going to learn how to cook <em>real</em> food. I wonder if it’s really sunk in for Sunny yet…that we have a home.” Jane’s voice dropped, once again taking it all in; that they weren’t just staying the night, that Nicole had opened her home to them both…</p>
<p>“If you’re willing to learn how to cook alongside me, then I’ll gladly welcome you into our home.” Molly said half-sarcastically. Jane stopped, turning off the stove and setting the skillet to the side, dumping the bacon into the pan to let it heat up. She whirled around and stepped towards Molly, pulling into a deep hug, sobbing a little.<br/><br/>“Miss Jane? Are you crying?”</p>
<p>“That’s all I wanted. All I have ever wanted. Thank you.” Jane continued squeezing Molly, who was obviously not used to this sort of affection, patted Jane lightly on her back.</p>
<p>“You don’t need my permission to live here, Miss Jane-” Molly began, before being slightly choked by another squeeze. Jane pulled away, wiping her eyes and clearing her throat.<br/><br/>“I know, I just…I’m glad I have your approval. It wouldn’t be right staying here without your say-so.” She said, turning back to the stove. Molly growled slightly – the aggressive hug had destabilized one of her delicate buns once more. <br/>“Do you know where the plates are?” She asked, her narrow eyes still dewy with tears.</p>
<p>“Sure…” Molly said again, still feeling awkward, as well as a new feeling she didn’t quite understand. She hopped down from her chair and scooted her stepstool over to a cabinet, grabbing three plates and three forks, handing them to Jane, who plated up eggs and bacon on each one and set them on the barren little dining room table. Jane smiled at her handiwork, huffing with satisfaction before taking in a big breath.</p>
<p>“SUNNY! Get out of bed and get dressed baby, breakfast is ready!” She shouted, Molly visibly wincing at the volume. There was a loud rustling for a few seconds, followed by the loud <em>THUMP-THUMP-THUMP </em>of approaching footsteps. Sunny’s freshly cut curls were matted down on the side of her head, her t-shirt was on backwards and she still had and she was wiping a line of spittle from her cheek. Jane tousled her hair and pulled a chair out from the table for her.</p>
<p>“Morning Mom! Morning Molly.” She said, hopping onto the seat Jane pulled out. Molly nodded curtly in response.<br/>“Thanks for breakfast mom!”</p>
<p>“Molly cooked the bacon, so thank her too kiddo.” Jane said, sitting down in her own chair.</p>
<p>“Wow, you helped mom make breakfast? That’s so cool Molly.” Sunny beamed, and once again her infectious attitude helped a smile break Molly’s impassive façade. They ate in silence for a bit, Molly out of refined politeness, and the other two out of the ravenous hunger of people who had never let good food go to waste. Just as they were finishing up and Jane picked up the plates, the front door burst open. Jane nearly dropped the plates, setting them down on the counter as she immediately tensed up, relaxing to see a hyperactive-looking Nicole, carrying a few boxes under her arms with the crazed look of someone who had just gotten off of a bender.<br/><br/>“Morning all! I was just out shopping, I got us a PlayStation, some board games, and a bunch of books for the kids – I know how Sunny likes comics – some movies we can watch later, and a bunch of stuff from the ‘As Seen on TV section!” Nicole said, giddy with the high of a shopping binge.</p>
<p>“Did you get any food? Your fridge looked a little barren. Or clothes for the kids? Boston is a lot colder than New York.” Jane crossed her arms, while Sunny squealed as she hopped off her chair and ran up towards Nicole, jumping up and down with boundless energy.</p>
<p>Nicole’s eyes widened a bit. “Oh, I completely forgot about clothes! Oh my God, we can get the kids matching outfits! Won’t they be so cute?”</p>
<p>Jane tightened her stance, trying to avoid Nicole’s sparkle as best she could, and huffed, blowing into her cheeks.<br/>“We can’t spend all our money on…whatever this is.”</p>
<p>“Frivolities?” Molly offered, her smile turning into a little sly smirk.</p>
<p>“Frivolities, thank you Molly. We can’t waste money like this.”</p>
<p>“But moooooooom.” Sunny moaned, halfway through opening the comic books that Nicole had handed her.</p>
<p>“But moooooooom.” Nicole joined in, smirking all to similarly to Molly. “It’s <em>my</em> money that I spent, and we have plenty enough for both essentials and <em>frivolities</em>, my dear Miss Doe. Besides, Sunny deserves some luxury after three years of scratching and surviving. You do too.”</p>
<p>“Tch. It’s your money, but you said you’d support all of us. You can’t do this long term.”</p>
<p>Nicole set down the rest of the boxes and straightened her tie, which was a flattering shade of teal today. <br/>“You’re right, Jane. But really, on my salary, I can afford it. You guys deserve a splurge, though. We can get groceries <em>after</em> we set up the PlayStation. Don’t be so boring, you’re starting to sound like Molly.”</p>
<p>“I’m not <em>boring</em>. Molly isn’t boring either. She’s a talented little chef, she helped me make breakfast earlier.”</p>
<p>“Molly, you cook?” Nicole seemed genuinely surprised.</p>
<p>“Barely, Nicole. All I did was cook the bacon.” Molly rolled her eyes, pulling off her spotless little apron and messing with her buns.</p>
<p>“Damn, I’ve been missing out…and no more calling me Nicole! Starting today you’re going to call me ‘Mother’, young lady!”</p>
<p>“Really? You’re really going to do this? I thought we had a mutual understanding…<em>mother</em>,” the young girl spat the word out like it was the king of insults.</p>
<p>“You’re a kid and you need to start acting like it. Have some <em>fun</em>. Make mistakes. Scrape a knee!”</p>
<p>“Those all sound terrible.”</p>
<p>“Well, I’m taking over where my mother left off. I know how awful her home-schooling, etiquette classes, and constant nagging is. She was even more uptight when I was growing up.”</p>
<p>“I had everything I needed at home. I have no clue why you’ve decided to play at being a parent, but I refuse to play at being your child!” Molly stamped her foot, yelling full-throated at her mother. Jane backed away, instinctively trying to shield Sunny from the noise. Nicole knelt down to be eye level with Molly.</p>
<p>“You did have everything. So did I, and I was miserable growing up in that place. Sunny has had nothing, and she’s just so…happy. I want you to have that. I want you and Sunny to be friends, and grow up together. Maybe I am trying to act out my own silly fantasy of what a family should be, but it’s only because I want to provide for the both of you. You need friends, and you need me. Sunny and her mom need us to help them. Here,” Nicole pulled Molly into a hug, and Molly was once again patting Nicole lightly on the back, awkwardly flailing her arms like a turtle on its back.</p>
<p>“What are you doing?”</p>
<p>“Hugging you. It’s a hug. It’s what mothers should give to their daughters. You know Phaedra didn’t hug me until after I graduated? You need this.”</p>
<p>“I really do not <em>need</em> this.”</p>
<p>“Well you deserve it.”</p>
<p>Sunny dashed out from behind Jane’s legs, jumping onto Molly from behind, shouting “Molly sandwich!” as she tackled into them. Molly groaned.</p>
<p>“First Jane, now both of you? Why is everyone hugging me today?”</p>
<p>“You let Jane hug you?” Nicole loosened her grip and pulled back a bit to look at both Jane and Molly with a lopsided smirk. “I’m impressed that you let her!”</p>
<p>“She’s faster than she looks. Plus, I was afraid she’d cry if I didn’t let her.” Molly rolled her eyes again, and Jane laughed and tousled her hair, much to her chagrin as one of her little buns came loose again. Before she could reach up to fix it, Nicole tightened the hug back down.</p>
<p>“That’s so sweet. Everyone hug Molly today!” Nicole said, while Sunny did her best to squeeze her skinny little arms around her new friend. Nicole finally released the two kids, standing up and smoothing out her gray suit jacket.<br/>“All right! I’m going to go grab the scissors so we can get all this stuff out of the boxes and set up. Sunny, you’re with me on un-boxing duty. Molly, could you handle the dishes from breakfast? Jane,” Jane looked up. She had been thinking about the ‘family’ they were becoming. What Nicole had meant by that, and how fast her imagination had decided to run with the idea.</p>
<p>Nicole grinned that toothy, lopsided grin again. “You’re going to shower up and get ready to hit the town. We’ve got groceries to get after this!”</p>
<p> </p>
<p>Jane pushed her hair back, behind her ears. It was still a little wet from her shower. She sat in the passenger seat of Nicole’s black sedan once more. She cleared her throat to disturb the silence. “So, you think it was smart to leave them alone with one another? They’re both the type of kids who are smart enough to know how to work the stove but dumb enough to play with fire…”</p>
<p>“Molly’ll keep an eye on Sunny, she’s probably too lazy to do anything stupid. Plus, she’s competitive like me. As much as she pretended not to be interested in the PlayStation, she’ll try to join in if she loads up anything they could play against each other with.”</p>
<p>“I suppose that’s true…” Jane says to herself. She realized this was the first chance she had with Nicole alone. She lined up the hundreds of questions she had in her head, about witches, Nicole, Phaedra, and the Gestalt.... “Where do you work?” She blurted out.</p>
<p>Nicole smiled. “Asking the real important questions huh? On paper, I’m a Human Resources manager, I guess. But really, my job is to look after the local area, protect witches in Boston, make sure they can go underground if they need to. I’m like everyone’s big sister out here, and usually nothing happens here without me knowing it. I get my salary from the witch community bank and a little stipend from my mother-“</p>
<p>“What like, an allowance?” Jane snickered.</p>
<p>“More like a sovereign annuity.”</p>
<p>“A what now?”</p>
<p>“Basically,” Nicole glanced at Jane with a smirk, “It’s the free money they give royalty.” She returned her gaze to the road. Jane waited for further explanation, and puffed up her cheeks again.</p>
<p>“You mean to tell me you’re loaded? And royalty? And I had to sleep on an air mattress last night? Royalty of what, exactly?”</p>
<p>“Royalty of a small duchy called Orron. I have a peerage there as a marquess. My mother’s a court witch for the Archduchess, and I was engaged to their prince before he eloped with some broad…ugh, what was her name?” Nicole snapped her fingers, trying to remember, while Jane sat there flabbergasted, her mouth opening and closing like a fish on land.</p>
<p>“They have witches, like, court witches? In other countries? Where is Orron? The fuck’s a marquess?”</p>
<p>“Well, it’s below a duke but above a count. I’m like a princess but not related to the royal family-”</p>
<p>“<em>Answer the other questions first.</em>” Jane grit her teeth. Nicole was obviously having way too much fun teasing her.</p>
<p>“Sorry, sorry. You just look so funny when you’re mad.” Nicole laughed. “Orron isn’t in this world, it’s on another world within the Gestalt.” Jane took a breath to ask another question, but Nicole held up her hand. “Yes, you can travel to other worlds in the Gestalt. Yes some of them are safe for witches, some of them aren’t. Some universes have no witches or magic at all. Some are so concentrated with it that they become nexus worlds for inter-Gestalt travel. There’s almost no way to enforce it but it’s also dangerous and easy to get lost, so people stick to the lanes and nexus planes they know. Does that answer the next hundred or so questions you were about to ask me?”</p>
<p>Jane closed her mouth, and sat back in her seat, looking down. “Not even remotely. I feel like I have a million questions and every time you answer one I get a half a million more.”</p>
<p>“I will answer three more questions, and that’s me being generous. The more curious you get about this sort of thing, the more danger you put yourself in. An underground society like ours is dangerous, and witches in worlds like this tend to be distrustful…who wouldn’t, in a world where nobody would really notice if you were killed and eaten by another witch?”</p>
<p>Jane shivered at the thought, less about a witch coming after her and more out of concern for Sunny. “Okay. The prince of…Orron, is he Molly’s father?”</p>
<p>Nicole scoffed. “Hell no! That little dork wouldn’t have had a chance with me in a million years! It was an arranged marriage, for the pedigree or some shit about bloodlines. Hell maybe the archduchess just liked my <em>flawless</em> bone structure enough to want it in her grandkids.” Jane rolled her eyes at Nicole’s brag, despite agreeing with it. “Nah, I helped arrange his little fairytale elope from behind the scenes. We’ve gotten along better after that than before, when we were engaged. Okay, next question.” Nicole’s smile was contagious, and Jane’s eyes were once again alight with excitement.</p>
<p>“Are you from another dimension? Plane? World, whatever…these universes in the Gestalt?” She asked.</p>
<p>Nicole’s smile shrank. “I’m from…Earth.”</p>
<p>“That’s not an answer. If there’s a Gestalt for every possible scenario, then there’s like, an infinite amount of Earths.”</p>
<p>“Damn. Shouldn’t have told you that.” Nicole sighed. “Yeah, I’m from an alternate Earth. Pretty similar to this one, magic was just more publically used. Guess I’m technically an alien? A human from another world if you want to call it that.” Nicole grimaced and looked at Jane, who was beaming with excitement.</p>
<p>“<em>That’s so cool.</em>” Jane said, her knees bouncing up and down in excitement.</p>
<p>“Really? Thought you’d be weirded out by it, like I’m not supposed to be here-“</p>
<p>“Nicole, you’ve grown up with magic your whole life. I’m only figuring out about it in the past few days. This is the coolest shit I’ve ever heard about.”</p>
<p>Nicole snorted with badly suppressed laughter. “God, you and Sunny really are alike. Just two big happy puppy dogs, you’re just too used to being a guard dog to be as loud as her.”</p>
<p>“You and Molly are more like cats, I’d suppose. In that you’re both sarcastic snooty bitches.”</p>
<p>“Fantastic, I’m sure we’ll all get along like a house on fire.” Nicole rolled her eyes.”</p>
<p>“See, there’s the sarcasm,” Jane teased.</p>
<p>“Just get to your final question before I make you walk home.” Nicole sighed through her nose, her eyes back on the road.</p>
<p>“Aaaand there’s the snootiness.” Jane smirked. She thought for a moment. She’d had one prepared but now that she knew Nicole was a princess (marquess, whatever), that she was from another planet, that she was royalty on yet another different planet, that she was the pretty much the guardian witch of Boston… “This is probably a waste of my last question, but why were you all the way out in Outwood three years ago if you’re supposed to look after Boston?”</p>
<p>“Honestly? Was curious about Sunny. Everyone was. Suddenly, out of nowhere, this flare of magical energy just showed up, lighting up our senses like a nuke went off. No gate signature, nobody entering or leaving the planet, no spells – just pure, raw energy showing up in a vessel that could barely contain it. It didn’t make sense. In magical terms, everything is just…data. Information. But this was like a fire with no heat. The only thing anyone could get was her name.”</p>
<p>“Sunny’s?”</p>
<p>Nicole nodded. “It wasn’t like the rest was encoded, or corrupted. It was like if someone was able to shout something so loud it could blow away half the continent. Just one word, but with all that energy behind it. That’s why everyone’s so…curious about her. I got there five hours later, and all I found was you, the cops, and Carmen.”</p>
<p>“Wait, that bitch with the parasol? Why was she there?”</p>
<p>“Same reason I was. She’s not a guardian like me; she’s more the wandering type. I found her in the snow, covered in blood. She said that Sunny was just some kid, and she didn’t understand. I’d sensed some more witches, fleeing into the woods, some dying…but Carmen worried me. She’s nearly as strong as I am, and, well you saw-”</p>
<p>“Gross goo thing she turned into? Guessing that’s not just to look scary.”</p>
<p>“No, her familiar is a toxic slime that makes her pretty much impossible to kill if she merges with it-” Nicole held up her hand again to cut off Jane’s inevitable question. “But you only get three questions, remember?” Jane glared and sat back.</p>
<p>“Apparently she’d been ambushed by three witches before she could even investigate closer. That they were possessed, or maybe just driven insane by what they’d seen. Magic can be a numbers game in the end, and Carmen went down swinging. She told me they had returned to the cabin after they dropped her, and then…kaboom. Whole place went up in a fireball. She passed out after that and only came to after I had found her. Saw you, saw the cops, the kid, and put two and two together. Didn’t expect you to be Sunny’s mom though.” Nicole shrugged</p>
<p>“<em>Maybe</em>,” Jane began, “I erased <em>my own memories</em> to keep from going feral like those other three witches? And Sunny’s to keep her safe?”</p>
<p>“Sunny’s memories are definitely altered, but I really doubt you had the power to erase her memories, much less your own. Using magic against yourself is like trying to bite off your own tongue or fingers. Easy in theory, but in practice your brain just won’t let you do it.”</p>
<p>“Hey, I’m just working on theories to try and piece this whole thing together. I don’t see <em>you</em> working on it.”</p>
<p>“Occam’s Razor, my dear Miss Doe. We could go on all day about what could have happened. Hell, a coconut could have bonked you on the head and given you classic blunt force amnesia, like Gilligan’s Island.”</p>
<p>“Who is Occam? Is Gilligan’s Island on the same planet as Orron?” Jane cocked her head to the side.</p>
<p>“Right, forgot about your, um…okay Gilligan’s Island is this really old goofy ass TV show and Occam was this old Franciscan philosopher. Occam’s Razor means ‘the simplest answer is usually the correct one.’”</p>
<p>“So what’s that got to do with shaving? Like, the razor part, what’s that all about?”</p>
<p>“Well, you see…” Nicole’s eyes fixed on the asphalt ahead as she pulled into the parking lot of a grocery store. “Shit, I don’t have a clue, actually. What <em>does</em> it mean?”</p>
<p>“Never mind that, what’s your theory as to the case of my missing memories?” Jane put on her best spooky mysterious voice.</p>
<p>“That counts as a fourth question, but I’ll humor you. I think whatever witch was experimenting on Sunny used you as a sentry and nurse, basically. Shows up to this little town in the middle of nowhere, with you probably being the only witch and not a very strong one at that, and a decently talented kid like Sunny. Probably killed her father, would have put up a fight, and used you as a puppet with compulsion magic to keep up appearances around town, get food, help ‘em in their experiments, that sort of sordid affair. Experiment goes wrong, they transfer too much power into Sunny or something, witches investigate, bad witch can barely hold off Carmen with their puppets so they decide to wipe your brain and any other incriminating evidence by going scorched earth. Your motherly instincts kick in, you grab Sunny and run before they go nuclear, yadda yadda yadda, now we’re here.”</p>
<p>“Fucking grim. Like, the witch would have killed my husband?” Jane grimaced. She hardly had feelings for someone she had no memory of, but it was still a loss to her.</p>
<p>“Probably. Or life partner, considering you’re bi or gay or whatever. Don’t need a human around mucking things up when you have a perfectly good low-level albino witch to do your dirty work. Or if your partner was also a witch, they probably made for a nice snack for our theoretical villain. Fewer people you have to use compulsion magic on, the better. It’s a tricky art, never been my forte.”</p>
<p>“Sheesh. Occam’s razor is a bitch.”</p>
<p>“That’s just my theory. Unfortunately this is one of those things that might just stay a mystery. Given that your memory was wiped and the other witnesses were driven off or killed, we’re not getting the full story any time soon. Unless, we bonk you with a coconut and your memory comes back, a la Gilligan’s Island.”</p>
<p>“Best not to try that. Any other clues as to how to get my memories back?”</p>
<p>“A few. But that’ll have to wait.” Nicole pulled the keys from the ignition. Jane had been too invested to notice that they had parked. “We’re here. C’mon, you pilot the shopping cart, I’ll navigate you around the store.”</p>
<p>“Fine.” Jane unclipped her seat belt and climbed out of the passenger seat, pulling her jacket tight around herself as she was hit by a gust of cold Boston air. Nicole seemed to shrug off the chill, her suit apparently enough for the frigid sea air. “Don’t buy too much candy. You have that look like you’re gonna bribe Sunny with candy and it’s making me nervous.”</p>
<p>“Oh I do, do I? And how would you know what my <em>‘looks’</em> look like?”</p>
<p>“I’ve seen a cat before. Adding ‘mischievous’ to snooty and sarcastic on your list of cattributes.” Jane said, pleased with her pun.</p>
<p>“You got me.” Nicole held her hands up, walking backwards to stay face to face with Jane as the marched towards the supermarket. “I’m gonna bribe her with candy for the nefarious end of making her always vote with me on movie nights. Truly the height of villainy.”</p>
<p>“Be serious. You’re already spoiling her way too much. What gives? Are you really as afraid of her as Phaedra’s telling you to be?”</p>
<p>Nicole’s face got more serious. “My mother has nothing to do with this, nor does Sunny’s power. I genuinely think she’s a sweet kid, and as for spoiling…well, I was raised in royalty, that’s kind of the only way I was shown affection as a child. That and extra magic lessons.”</p>
<p>“Wow Phaedra’s way of saying she loves you is with more schoolwork? What a great mom.” Jane said, grabbing one of the shopping carts and wheeling it out of the stack.</p>
<p>“Yeah she’s kinda…repressed. I was too before I moved to this Earth- hang on, this basket has a fishtail.”</p>
<p>“Who what now?”</p>
<p>“Fishtail.” Nicole pointed down at the wobbly wheel of the cart. “Grab a different basket, I’m not dealing with that squeaking all day.”</p>
<p>Jane rolled her eyes, pushing the cart back into the stack and grabbing another one. “Happy?”</p>
<p>“Relatively.” Nicole straightened her lapel. “Alright, let me show you around the aisles.”</p>
<p>After a good long wander through the grocery store and quibbling over how much money they could spend, Jane finally left the store with a sigh, Nicole in tow. Stores like that stressed Jane out, too many people, too much noise. She exhaled slowly as they left the store, raking her scalp with her fingers. All she could think about was more questions. Nicole strode ahead, unlocking her sedan and popping the trunk. They loaded the bags of groceries without much to say, Jane’s mind still abuzz with questions and a burgeoning migraine, a knot forming in her stomach. When she finally sat back in her passenger seat, she took a few moments to breathe, trying to sort her questions out in a reasonable string, smart questions first. Nicole sat in the driver’s seat, and as soon as she put her keys in the ignition, Jane’s self control broke.</p>
<p>“Okay, so are witch hats a thing? What’s a familiar? How does compulsion magic work? What do my tattoos do?” She fired at a rapid pace, the questions that had been eating at her escaping with relief.</p>
<p>Nicole sighed and pulled the keys from the ignition. “I’ll answer one question, then we’re getting home as fast as we can. Don’t want the milk to go bad.”</p>
<p>“Okay, lemme think of a good one…” Jane bit her lip, her leg beginning to tap against the floor of the car. “Alright. So, you saw Carmen on the night of the explosion, right? Why didn’t you kill that cannibal bitch when you had the chance?”</p>
<p>“Well at the time I didn’t think she was a cannibal, and her being a raging bitch wasn’t really reason enough to snuff her out when she was all vulnerable like that. We have…history; she and I. Didn’t feel like the move. Besides, I was out of my jurisdiction in the first place, and she’s one of the only witnesses of that night.”</p>
<p>“When we saw her in Central park, she looked at me like she recognized me, and I sort of recognized her…she looked familiar as hell, I just couldn’t place her. Was I one of the witches who attacked her?”</p>
<p>“Well, no offense, but she would have wiped the floor with you. It’s not likely that you were one of the puppets of our big bad witch.”</p>
<p>“Then where did I see her?”</p>
<p>Nicole dropped her keys as she looked in the rear view mirror. “Ah fuck….looks like you might get the chance to ask her yourself.”</p>
<p>Jane shifted to look out of the back window. The woman with red hair, a redder parasol and a black rain slicker stood in the way of their car’s exit path. Nicole jammed the keys in the ignition and cranked it, but the sedan shuddered in response.</p>
<p>“Motherfucker…” Nicole said, biting her lip and trying the ignition again as the woman limped around to the driver’s side window and tapped it. Nicole looked back at Jane, and the albino nodded in determination. Nicole rolled down her window.</p>
<p>“Well hello Nicky. Noodles,” Carmen said, nodding at Jane as she leaned into the window of the sedan, “You know, first time in a long time we’ve actually talked. How’s your back?”</p>
<p>“Fine. How’s the leg?” Nicole stared back furiously, Jane leaning forward with her hands balled up. She had no idea how to help besides her fists, but she waited for a signal from Nicole.</p>
<p>“You’re cute. Mind if I get in the back seat? Terribly cold here in Boston – you know how little love I have for following you out to this miserable place.”</p>
<p>“Absolutely not you horrid bitch, now what did you do to my car?”</p>
<p>Carmen’s near-permanent grin widened as she leered at the two. “Just holding it in place. I want to chat.”</p>
<p>Nicole sighed again. “Watch the eggs, they’re in the backseat.” She said, unlocking the passenger doors and sliding up the window.</p>
<p>“You’re letting that psychopath in the car?” Jane asked in the brief moment of silence they had between each other.</p>
<p>“Relax, she’s on my turf, and in my car she’s basically helpless. If she wanted to fight she’d have chosen a better battleground than the backseat.” She looked back as Carmen opened the door and buckled herself in, pulling the shopping bag with the eggs in it onto her lap. “Isn’t that right, Carmen? You’ll be on your best behavior?”</p>
<p>“Oh, of course Nicky. Wouldn’t do anything nefarious on your terms. I know how you like to play dirty.”</p>
<p>“Good. Then Jane has some questions for you before you get into whatever you came to talk about. Now release my car before the milk goes bad.”</p>
<p>“Done and done,” The crooked woman said as the sedan sputtered to life and Nicole put it in reverse. “Now, Noodles. You have questions for me?”</p>
<p>“You’re goddamn right I do. First question – do you know who I am?” Jane said, craning uncomfortably to fix her glare on Carmen.</p>
<p>The woman shrugged. “Some nobody witch? When I first saw you three years ago, I assumed you were some sort of scavenger, there for scraps, or some sort of puppet of the old woman. But when I saw you in Central Park with Sunny…well that piqued my curiosity. I’d assumed Nicky had done you in and taken the kid with her, but seeing you instead, hiding out in that tent city with the girl, then Nicky coming to your rescue…well I had to investigate further. Definitely worth breaching another witch’s territory.”</p>
<p>“You thought I was there to eat Sunny? Sorry but I’m not a cannibal freak like you.” Jane’s fingers dug into the upholstery of her chair with rage, but Carmen was unfazed, still smiling away.</p>
<p>“A cannibal? Really, Nicky, you think I’d have fallen that far?”</p>
<p>“I wouldn’t be surprised at this point.” Nicole responded, not looking away from the road.</p>
<p>Carmen returned her focus to Jane. “I’m not a homophage, Noodles.”</p>
<p>“I’m assuming ‘homophage’ means ‘cannibal freak’, then.” Jane said. Before the witch in the backseat could respond, she continued. “Why’d you come after Sunny? Turn all gooey, try to kill us.”</p>
<p>“Well, I merged with my familiar because I was sensing some…hostility from you, and was preparing for whatever spell you were about to use. I didn’t know that Nicole was coming for you,” She held up her hands and shook her head, “I’m not on my A game lately, I guess. As for Sunny, I’m not trying to eat her. Just kill her.”</p>
<p>Jane launched herself at Carmen, her seatbelt groaning from her pulling so suddenly. Nicole put a hand on her shoulder and gently pushed her back into her seat. Jane took a few breaths, her eyes narrowing to slivers.</p>
<p>“Why?”</p>
<p>Carmen rolled her eyes. “To save every witch for thousands of miles? To bring balance back to the world, I dunno, maybe just be the one sane person involved in this fiasco?”</p>
<p>“She’s an innocent child you crazy bitch.” Jane was visibly shaking with rage.</p>
<p>“She’s a ticking time bomb of magical energy. Would have thought you knew that. Why do you even care? You trying to use her like Nicole?”</p>
<p>“She’s my daughter, you fuck- wait, what’s this about Nicole <em>using</em> her?” Jane’s eyes flicked over to Nicole, who kept her eyes on the road, not meeting her gaze.</p>
<p>Carmen wheezed with laughter. “Your daughter? Oh you poor, poor woman. I guess it makes sense, but…wow, what’s it like having a nuclear bomb for a kid? How do you even look her in the face without pissing yourself in fear?”</p>
<p>“Maybe because I’m not a coward. Now tell me how Nicole is apparently using us?”</p>
<p>“Nicky’s always been looking for a talented protégé, even before she graduated. Even though the most practical and ethical thing to do would be to ah- defuse the bomb, so you will, Nicole wants to make that power hers. She just needs to justify it to her warped morals first, by raising Sunny instead of eating her. She’ll convince you and herself it’s for the child’s best interest, but really, she just wants a toy that’s just as fucked up and dangerous as her.”</p>
<p>“Carmen, you’re in my car.” Nicole said in a hollow voice. “Put some respect on your tone before you find most of yourself outside of it.”</p>
<p>“Ah of course, your ladyship. I meant no disrespect. I’m sure Stheno or I would do the same if we didn’t understand the incredible amount of danger you put us all in by letting that walking alchemical experiment by letting it still draw breath on this earth.” Carmen said blithely, but her hand moved to her parasol and there was a bit more stiffness in her movement. She was obviously scared of Nicole. Jane swallowed to get a grip on her splitting headache and the tightening knot in her gut and turned her attention back to Carmen. She needed more information, but didn’t want Carmen to know she’d lost all memories of being a witch.</p>
<p>“Doesn’t matter. I’m going with the option that keeps my daughter alive the longest.”</p>
<p>“Your daughter will be the end of us all. Speaking of which: how did you convince the old woman to spare you?”</p>
<p>“Old woman…you mean the witch experimenting on Sunny?”</p>
<p>Carmen’s smile widened. “Oh god, you were her puppet, weren’t you? And you still managed to fight it enough to save the girl…oh that is too precious. Tell me, do you even remember her name?”</p>
<p>Jane’s jaw tightened. The jig was already up. “I don’t…remember her, not exactly. She edited our memories. That doesn’t erase the fact-”</p>
<p>“She erased you completely, didn’t she? Tabula rasa?”</p>
<p>Jane closed her mouth, chewing on her lip for a bit before opening it again.</p>
<p>“How’d you know?”</p>
<p>“It’s what I would have done, simplest method to covering my tracks. Occam’s Razor, Noodles.”</p>
<p>“Again with this guy’s razor…so who was the witch experimenting on Sunny?”</p>
<p>Carmen actually looked frustrated. “Don’t know. That’s one of the things I wanted to ask Nicky. I was <em>hoping</em> she would have been investigating, looking into the matter, since she seemed to have taken ownership over most of the evidence. I’ve been letting it slide, since we have history with each other, but now she’s gone too far. We can’t let this go unabated, but we can try and mitigate the fallout by taking measures-”</p>
<p>“I’m not killing Sunny, Carmen. It’s out of the question. And if you go near her, no amount of history we got together will stop me from ending you. Got it?” Nicole said. It was the coldest she’d ever sounded to Jane; the earnest willingness to kill without a second thought sent a slight shiver down Jane’s back.</p>
<p>“Got it, <em>sheesh</em> why does everyone care about this kid so much?” Carmen shifted her weight, setting the shopping bag on her lap back to the side. “Other thing I wanted to talk about. Stheno’s coming to town in about a month, to see how your investigation is going, seeing as, again, you have most of the evidence.”</p>
<p>“Couldn’t this have been an e-mail?” Nicole said casually, but Jane could see her tense up at the name-drop.</p>
<p>“You know she refuses to comprehend computers. Two thousand and some-odd years doesn’t make one super friendly to new forms of communication. And besides, she likes to send messengers. I was on the way here anyway, so she sent the message along.”</p>
<p>“So you’re still her little lapdog?”</p>
<p>“With pride.” Carmen smirked. Jane clicked her tongue.</p>
<p>“Okay, who the hell is Stheno?” The albino asked impatiently. “I hate being left out of the loop.”</p>
<p>Carmen’s smirk transformed back into her usual grin. “Right, I had forgotten you didn’t know anything. Here I was thinking you were some kind of semi-competent witch, or at least smart enough to know your way around, but you really are just a puppet with its strings cut, an animal following basic motherly instinct and the instructions of a-”</p>
<p>“Jeez, you really like the sound of your own voice. Just get to the point.” Jane snapped.</p>
<p>“Fine, fine, have it your way mama bear. In short, Stheno is our instructor, Nicky and I. Well; we’re her two students that are both worth a damn in this world. The rest are in other realms or dead.”</p>
<p>“I thought Phaedra taught Nicole.”</p>
<p>“She most certainly did, but Nicky is the type of girl who is <em>desperate</em> for power. So when Phaedra wouldn’t teach her more, ah, advanced spells, she sought out extracurricular advice. Under that spotless suit and flawless makeup, your ladyship really is a desperate, hungry, dirty liar. Phaedra hates Stheno, so Stheno was all too happy to teach little Nicky whatever forbidden magic she wanted to know…that’s how we met, actually. Old study buddies, peeling back the layers of magic, not matter the cost…human or otherwise.”</p>
<p>Nicole said nothing, but her grip on the wheel tightened. Jane nodded, her guard lowering a bit to Carmen. She knew the type: people obsessed with their own stories, like they were living in their own world and only deigned to share it with everyone else out of boredom and pity. A little attention, let them talk about themselves, and they’ll spill all the information she needed.</p>
<p>“When Phaedra found out about Nicky’s little rendezvous, the game was over. Of course, she faced no real consequences aside from getting locked up in that big stupid castle, but most people would <em>kill</em> to have that. Me, on the other hand, well I was banned from an entire nexus world – a big deal, in case you aren’t aware, Noodles – under pain of death. Just for being associated with the whole ordeal. But I’m glad we’re able to keep in touch. I didn’t find what I was looking for, but I’m interested in seeing how this plays out.”</p>
<p>“You finally leaving, Carmen?” Nicole asked, merging onto the highway.</p>
<p>“Yep, this is my stop. I’ll see you soon, I’m sure Stheno will find a way to let you know where to find us. See ya in a month, Nicky. And toodles, Noodles. Remember, Nicole might act like a princess, but she really is just a lying villain…be smart about your next move.” The witch gave a demure little wave at Jane, who answered with a middle finger. Carmen opened her door, and flickered out of sight – one moment she was there, the next, a gust of wind seemed to pull her away, and she was gone. The door shut, seemingly by the same wind, and Jane returned her gaze to Nicole, who was scrutinizing the car in front of her to avoid Jane’s stare.</p>
<p>“Sorry you didn’t get the answers you were looking for, Jane.” Nicole said, her eyes darting between the cars in traffic.</p>
<p>“Don’t be. I think you might have some yourself.” Jane said, stretching her neck. “Was getting tired of looking at that bitch anyway. So…this true? You want to make Sunny your pupil? Use her for yourself?”</p>
<p>“Of course not, Jane. You know me-”</p>
<p>“I barely fucking know you, Nicole. Apparently I don’t know the first thing about you, seeing as you used to be study buddies with that knob-job, that you’ll do anything for power, that you lied to your own mother to study with her enemy behind her back, that there’s a witch investigation into my child, that my child is being hunted because <em>she’s a fucking time bomb.</em>” Jane jabbed her finger into Nicole’s shoulder with every point.</p>
<p>“I’m sorry.”</p>
<p>“You really are a liar. Annoying as Carmen might be she’s right about that. Wonder what else she’s right about.”</p>
<p>“I’m sorry, Jane. I haven’t been telling you the full story. I have kept you in the dark because…I dunno. I don’t want you to get hurt, mixed up in all this. Fuck – I just want them to have a normal fucking childhood, not all this witch bullshit!”</p>
<p>“Tell me everything.”</p>
<p>“I can’t-“</p>
<p>“Please, Nicole. I want to trust you.”</p>
<p>Nicole sighed squaring her shoulders and finally looking at Jane. Their eyes met, and for once, Jane wasn’t squinting or glaring.</p>
<p>“Silver, huh? Somehow, I’d expected your eyes to be red, or something. Guess that’s just for albino animals.” Nicole said quietly, before taking a deep breath and looking back at the road. “Everything, huh?”</p>
<p>“To the best of your ability.” Jane said, making a mental note of the efficacy of her puppy-dog eyes, before shielding them with her hand. The glare off the cars in traffic burned her sensitive retinas.</p>
<p>“Alright. Guess…this comes with more explanation of the Gestalt. We live in a three-dimensional world, with time being the fourth dimension. There are fourth-dimensional creatures that live beyond time, but they’re not really relevant to this story. The point is that the multiverse – the infinite amount of universes on our timeline – is spread across the fourth dimension. The Gestalt makes up an imaginary dimension – fifth dimension, complex dimension, whatever…it’s not really hard to bring into terms we can comprehend. But the Gestalt is every possible timeline imaginable, right?”</p>
<p>“Got that so far, yes.” Jane nodded.</p>
<p>“Well, just like there are fourth dimensional creatures that live beyond time, there are creatures that are born within the Gestalt, outside of imagination. They’re the unimaginable. Things we literally cannot conceive of. Best way to think of them is like amoeba. But even that isn’t accurate. They’re more intelligent beyond any measure, and contain all data that is knowable…but it’s impossible to decrypt any of it, and they act on pure animal instinct, without reason, but with full motive. They can barter with intelligent life, trick them, appear as gods or eldritch, cosmic horrors, but not out of any intellect of their own…for them knowledge is an autonomic function, like breathing is for us. They could convince you to become their slave with merely a brief conversation, but never know it took place. They are endlessly ravenous but agelessly patient, smaller than the tiniest atom and greater in size than the breadth of entire universes. They are contradictory in nature and impossible to know. They’ve baffled scientists on other worlds, been the stuff of nightmares or legend on others, or go unnoticed by swaths of universes. And their only apparent food source is entire universes.”</p>
<p>“Wait, but they live in the Gestalt. Aren’t there infinite universes they can chow down on? Why would they even need to talk to people?”</p>
<p>“Like amoeba pierce the cell walls of smaller bacteria, the Unimaginable pierce the barriers of realms to get at the juicy magical data inside. They need permission to enter, not unlike vampires or the FBI.”</p>
<p>“Wait, are vampires real?”</p>
<p>“Every conceivable monster is real in another world. But don’t worry, you’re much more likely to be killed by the FBI than vampires. Now, where was I? Oh yeah, the cosmic horrors beyond conception. They won’t enter a realm unbidden; a universe is finite in volume, but a <em>realm</em> is an infinite amount of universes and timelines. It’s like trying to bite into an entire pineapple without any tools to bust it open. So they infiltrate the realm. Communicate with its denizens. Forming a cult, corporation, nation – doesn’t matter, they don’t even live within the concept of time. For them it’s just how they eat. Doesn’t matter if it takes millions of years, but soon, they have enough people who can use magic – their language, the data that controls the Gestalt – to break open their space-time continuum and invite in the Unimaginable. This is one of many reasons time travel is so dangerous – aside from all of the other dangers it poses, it makes a realm more inviting. If you mess with the flow of time, you mess with the flow of data, and you’re liable to be sensed by them.”</p>
<p>“So what does this have to do with you?” Jane asked. She was hardly bored, but wanted to know more about Nicole, and wasn’t about to let her dodge the question again.</p>
<p>“I’m getting to that. I was born on another earth. One that had figured out the magic to time travel…it was really similar to this earth, but magic was publically used, collaborated on. Way more advanced than most of the Gestalt, actually. But when our witches started dabbling in time travel, a lot of nexus realms cut us off. Too dangerous to be associated with our realm. The more places that cut us off, the more resources we had to create with time travel. Our witches got cocky and duplicated too much data…if we were going to get invaded by the Unimaginable, we had completely figured out fourth dimensional travel to go back and silence whoever let them in. But…they were still thinking in three-dimensional terms. The Unthinkable exist outside of time. They’d known since they had even come into contact with us what we were doing. I was six years old when our timeline started collapsing. I <em>saw</em> one…part of one. I didn’t sleep after that, I still have insomnia, even after Phaedra removed the memory of it. When they were consuming our timeline, I felt…indescribable. I don’t know how to describe the feeling of having every version of yourself eaten by a void, feeling the pressure as your many infinite timelines, every version of you that could exist, winnowed down to a single point: deletion.”</p>
<p>“But you’re here, so what gives?” Jane was on the edge of her seat, one hand under her chin and the other instinctively patting Nicole’s out of concern.</p>
<p>“My mother was one of the witches who had worked on the time experiments. There was no forwards, no backwards, but there was an out – a gap that our invaders had entered through. She created a gate to a nexus realm, any realm, and pushed me through. The last Nicole, Nicole Saint-Etienne: survivor of a dead earth and erased universe.”</p>
<p>“Why didn’t anyone else think of gating to another realm?”</p>
<p>“They did, I’m sure millions tried it, on a world full of witches, but they didn’t have my mother’s experience with space-time manipulation. When the Unthinkable invade…well, time warps. The only place to go is in the belly of the beast. You can only send someone to them with a gate, but my mom figured out a way to send me around them by sending me forward in time a few decades…a one in a million shot, she let me ride the vortex of time to the tiny point to which they’d entered our universe from. I don’t know if there are any survivors, but I’ve searched, and found none. I was six years old, trapped on a planet, a <em>universe</em> I wasn’t familiar with, and all the memories of my family were…faded. I knew my name, what had happened, but…even now I can’t remember my mother’s face, or what my dad’s voice sounded like. None of my friends’ names, not even my own birthday. They had technically never existed. The only timeline where I existed was the one I was in. On a version of Earth called Terra, in a little alpine country called Orron. A nexus realm. Didn’t know if my mom had planned it that way, but I was in a place relatively safe for witches. I was homeless for a few weeks, chased a bit like you and Sunny have been, and was saved by Phaedra. She took me in, adopted me, and taught me magic once she saw I had a talent for it. She edited some of my memories so that I could talk to people – I’d stopped talking after the…incident – and the rest I’d worked out with years of therapy.”</p>
<p>“I’m sorry, Nicole. I’d thought you were just some spoiled rich kid for a while…I don’t know what to say.” Jane sheepishly ran her thumb over the ribbon on her wrist, guilt tightening her throat.</p>
<p>“S’fine. I was a spoiled rich kid, growing up with Phaedra. Carmen wasn’t lying, either; I grew up in a goddamn <em>castle</em>. Better than being erased from existence. But I’d always wondered…who I was, where I came from. So when I had finished my studies, I did some investigating. Everyone has their own personal data, and different versions of you will still share a core of that data. So I looked, for other realms, universes with a Nicole Saint-Etienne. That’s why I was so desperate to advance, why I even asked help from a rogue witch like Stheno. I needed to know who I was. And that’s how I found this realm. The first one I found with a…well, me in it. I came here, tracked her down. Spied on her from afar, did some digging into her background. Nicole Stevenson, born Nicole Fabienne Saint-Etienne. Born in Atlanta, Georgia, to postal clerk Franklin Saint-Etienne and Algerian immigrant Inara Massi, on August 3<sup>rd</sup>, 1944. Married with kids to Albert Stevenson, a wedding photographer. Honestly? I coulda done better, but they seem happy together.”</p>
<p>“You were born in the forties? You look…good.”</p>
<p>Nicole laughed. “Yeah, it was 1950 when our realm was invaded, I think I remember there was a world fair about it. Again, it’s all faded…just working with ol’ biological memory of things that technically never happened. When my birth mother sent me out of the universe, I skipped a few decades. When you unspool the fourth dimension, things get a little wacky. We’re about the same age, if I had to guess, although thanks to magic, I am going to age pretty gracefully. Phaedra’s one-hundred and sixty years old, and she’s barely aged since she adopted me.”</p>
<p>“Fucking witch bullshit. With my luck I’m gonna age like hot garbage, aren’t I?”</p>
<p>“If you don’t keep your albino ass out of the sun, yes. That’s why I bought you so much sunscreen.” Nicole teased.</p>
<p>“So, what happened with you? Yous. Nicole two, I mean. Old Nicole.”</p>
<p>“After a bit more waiting and watching, I introduced myself as her cousin, Nadia.”</p>
<p>“Real great cover name.”</p>
<p>“Shut it. We bonded, talked. No surprise but I’m actually just a pretty cool lady. I make fantastic sweet tea, have a bunch of track and field trophies, my kids are adorable – I mean, nowhere near as cute as Molly, her father’s genes and mine got along like peanut butter and jelly – and I apparently met Nichelle Nichols and got a signed photograph with her.”</p>
<p>“I don’t know who that is.” Jane said, but nodded along with the Nicole’s excitement.</p>
<p>“Right, I need to sit you down and make you absorb all of pop culture for the past fifty years. I think you’ll like it – Star Trek, anyway. But I finally convinced her to part with one of her photographs, ‘for a family photo album’, I told her.” Nicole braked the car at a stoplight, and pulled out her wallet, flipping open one of the photo sheaths. She held it in front of Jane. A man whose warm eyes and high cheekbones drew a striking resemblance to Nicole’s stared back at her, laughing with his arm around a woman who shared Nicole’s graceful, delicate features, whose polite, slightly sarcastic smile she saw in Molly’s face from time to time.</p>
<p>“A picture of my parents.” Nicole said, before pushing the photo carefully back into her wallet as she took her foot off the brake and started on the street the apartment was on. “They died two years before I came to this world, car crash. But any time I see them, my memories of before, of my realm, universe, and world – those seem real again. So I get it. I get you wanting to find out who you are, and I will do anything in my power to help you and Sunny. I hope that convinces you. You have my word.”</p>
<p>Jane nodded. “I trust you, that you won’t use Sunny, that you’ll help us. I trust you.” She held back tears. One crying episode in front of the Saint-Etiennes was enough for one day; she didn’t need to be teased for another. Nicole parked the car in the lot under the stack of condominiums.</p>
<p>“Ready to help unload groceries?” She said, wiping tears of her own from the corners of her eyes as she grabbed the keys from the ignition.</p>
<p>“One more question, please?”</p>
<p>Nicole rolled her eyes. “Fine, with that traffic, whatever’s gone bad has already gone bad by now. Shoot, but only one question, ‘kay?”</p>
<p>“What’s Molly’s story, like, why don’t you want her growing up in a castle?”</p>
<p>“Oh you’re cheap for asking such a big question.” Nicole chewed her lip as a tiny feeling of victory mixed with shame rose in Jane’s chest. “Well, as long as we’re spilling beans…Molly doesn’t have a peerage like I do, because she’s not fully human. Her father isn’t a human, anyway.”</p>
<p>“Ah hell. Aliens?”</p>
<p>“Again, I’m technically an alien, given that I’m from another world. But no, Molly’s father is sort of what you’d call…a creature beyond human. He’s considered a god, but that doesn’t really translate very well. He’s not all-powerful or immortal, but he’s definitely more than a human. A shape-shifting creature that can turn into a human, but whose base form is…monstrous.”</p>
<p>“So you got freaky with a monster, got it. Does Molly know?”</p>
<p>“How could she not? She wasn’t treated like she was even a person in that castle. Sure, she had all her needs met, all the servants do as she wants, but the nobles…they treat her like a novelty. Like some half-human demon spawn that crawled its unholy way out of my snatch.”</p>
<p>“Isn’t that what she is, though?”</p>
<p>“No! She’s a <em>child</em>. I thought you of all people would understand this. She’s an eight-year-old girl who has lived her whole life feared and detested by everyone around her. Nobody but Phaedra and I will talk to her willingly, and she hates, <em>hates</em> being a kid. She just wants to grow up already so she can be free. Just like I did. I just want her and Sunny to live <em>normal</em> fucking lives, have normal childhoods, have friends, bond, go to school, get in fights, braid each other’s hair. All the things I never had as a kid.” Nicole slammed her hands against the steering wheel, leaning forward, tears streaming down her cheeks. “I just want her to be <em>happy</em>. I want Sunny to be safe; I want to just have a family. Fuck<em> witches </em>and<em> magic </em>and all this other<em> bullshit</em>, fuck Terra and Orron and the court and royalty. Fuck…” She wiped her tears roughly with her palm, smudging her makeup in the process.</p>
<p>“Hey, hey, I get it. Your kid’s a half-monster demon thing, my kid is a magical bomb made by some unknown witch. You never got to live out your childhood, and mine was erased from my memory. We’re a weird little fucked up crew, but I think we can make it work out. Fuck normal. We’ll find a way to give them the <em>best</em> childhood.” Jane patted Nicole on the back until the sobbing let up, and the witch looked up with a weak smile.</p>
<p>“We should get the groceries unloaded. The kids are probably wondering what we’re doing down here.” Nicole said, pulling a handkerchief out and blowing her nose.</p>
<p>“Let me handle the groceries, you can join us when you’ve sorted yourself out. I may not be much for magic or thinking but I’m a big dumb animal that can carry a whole lotta grocery bags.”</p>
<p>“You’re a good sport, Jane. Thanks.” Nicole said, taking a deep breath. “Make sure not to break the eggs, and hold the bag with the bread in it carefully.”</p>
<p>Jane nodded, and got out of the car, slinging the groceries onto her arms, it was a slight game of delicate balance that Nicole chuckled at from inside the sedan. Jane finally got all the bags in hand and climbed up the flight of stairs to the second floor. She stopped before their door. ‘<em>Shit, I don’t have any keys to the place’</em> she thought, before gently knocking on the front door by headbutting it lightly three times. She heard Sunny’s voice whispering, giggling for a moment, before speaking up through the door.</p>
<p>“Who is it?”</p>
<p>“It’s your mother. Open up Sunny, I’ve got groceries!”</p>
<p>“Only if you say the magic word!”</p>
<p>“Pretzels? Pizza? Panini?”</p>
<p>Sunny giggled through the door. “Nooope, but you’re close!”</p>
<p>“Is it ‘please’?” Jane smiled, hearing the door unlock as Sunny swung it open, still giggling uncontrollably.</p>
<p>“Welcome home, mommy!”</p>
<p>“Welcome home, Jane.” Molly said as the tall woman entered the living room. She was lying on a pillow on the floor, eyes glued to the television, PlayStation controller in hand. A heavily dented pillow and controller next to her showed that Sunny had been playing with her. For some reason, it filled Jane with pride.</p>
<p>“Hey kids, sorry that took so long – Sunny, help me with these bags – traffic was awful. How about I make some chicken noodle soup, huh? Molly, you want to help?” She asked, Sunny helping her set the bags on the dining room table.</p>
<p>“Sure.” Molly paused the game and hopped up from her position, helping unload food from the bags as Jane grabbed some of the essential sundries – toothpaste, toothbrushes for Molly and Sunny, deodorant, and a shitload of sunscreen – and set them aside for later. When finished, she tousled Molly’s hair again, and her buns came undone again. Molly clicked her tongue and began working to re-tie them.</p>
<p>“Sorry…hang on a sec.” Jane said, pushing her hand through her short hair. She grabbed a pair of scissors from the knife block in the kitchen and untied the ribbon around her wrist, cutting it in half.</p>
<p>“Here, my hair’s finally short now so I don’t need this anymore.” She said, tying the ribbons into little bows around Molly’s buns. “There ya go, sorry about that.” She said, tousling Molly’s hair once more to test them. The bows held, and so did the buns.</p>
<p>“Thanks…” Molly quirked her mouth like she was trying to suppress a smile, before yelping as Jane pulled her into a hug. Sunny saw that as her cue again.</p>
<p>“Molly sandwich!” She shouted, diving in and hugging Molly from behind. The child groaned, and Jane held them both for as long as she could before Nicole opened the front door.</p>
<p>“You know, I have a good feeling about this.” Nicole said. Her makeup had been fixed perfectly and any evidence of her crying had been erased. “I have a feeling we are gonna work this out.”</p>
<p> </p>
<p> </p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0005"><h2>5. Snake Pit</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Summary for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
            <p>The Meeting with Stheno finally comes, and so does the gay part of this story. Hallelujah.</p>
          </blockquote><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>This chapter has some disturbing scenes of mental suggestion and hypnosis, as well as discussion about sex.<br/>Reader discretion is advised - oh who are we kidding. You're on Ao3 specifically for this kind of shit. This is why I write under a pseudonym. Have at it you crazy kids.</p></blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>The month had already passed before Jane was prepared for it – Nicole had sat her down during all of their free time together and forced her to consume all pop culture that she had found worthy of forcing into her mind. Nicole’s hours were irregular but they usually mapped onto normal workdays, and sometimes she would take a day or two off, despite not having weekends. When Nicole wasn’t around, Jane made sure she was busy with the kids – she tried to make sure to involve Molly in as much cooking as she could, learning a new recipe every day for lunch or dinner. Sometimes when they were too tired to cook, Nicole would come home and bring pizza or take-out. Jane also had to make sure to keep Sunny entertained while balancing her education with it. She wasn’t exactly the most knowledgeable person herself so she made sure they read books or, with Molly’s help, learned simple math problems that she’d gotten from a dusty old library book. Sunny would usually sit still long enough for her lessons before returning to her comic books or video games, sometimes with Jane or Molly as a second player, sometimes alone. After Nicole would return home, they all watched Star Trek, classic films (or whatever Nicole had deemed ‘classic’), and whatever else they could before going to bed.</p><p>To Jane, it was a dream come true. A domestic life with her kid, her friend, and her friend’s weird kid. She was in paradise…until she remembered the “appointment” set with Stheno that they were swiftly closing in on. She’d managed to somewhat forget about magic, or at least, Sunny and their new life had taken priority, but now it all rushed back to the forefront of her mind. After tucking Sunny in, and saying goodnight to Molly (they had gotten a bunk bed in the guest room), she stepped into the quiet living room of the apartment. Nicole was undoing her tie, stifling a yawn as she reset the pillows on the couch, after they’d been disturbed by tonight’s viewing of <em>Casablanca</em>.</p><p>“Going to bed, Jane?” She asked, stretching with another yawn.</p><p>“No…not right now, anyway.”</p><p>“Ah well, I am, so goodnight!” Nicole said with a wink, walking past Jane. Jane caught her wrist.</p><p>“You’ve been avoiding me.” She said, her grip tightening a little on Nicole as if she were intending to make a run for it.</p><p>“Jane…I have spent literally every night this month watching movies and TV with you. I’m pretty sure my other friends are starting to talk.”</p><p>“You’ve been avoiding talking to me, one-on-one, lately. Without the girls present.”</p><p>“Sorry…I just, I’m sure you have a lot of questions about magic but…really, the more I tell you, the more you’ll want to get into this world. I can already tell you want to travel to another realm. It’s a whole new world for you, I get it-”</p><p>“We need to talk about enrolling Sunny in school.” Jane cut her off.</p><p>“Oh. Oh! That’s what you wanted to talk about. Yeah, we should get the girls into a school. C’mere, let’s hash it out at the table.” Nicole said, pulling a seat out at the dining table. Jane smiled to herself. Her trap had worked!</p><p>“Yeah, I was hoping there would be a school where the girls could learn together. Molly’s obviously a bit more academically advanced than Sunny but I was hoping they could look out for one another.”</p><p>“Oh definitely. Oh my god, what if we send them to a school where they wear cute little uniforms? They could be like twins!”</p><p>“I doubt they’d be mistaken for twins.”</p><p>“No but like, imagine them here in their little school uniforms, oh wouldn’t that be so adorable?” Nicole gushed, her mind already on the idea, clamped down like a bear trap.</p><p>“I’d bet. Hey, how about we look around schools locally…”</p><p>“Yeah?”</p><p>“After we meet Stheno. If we’re gonna be out anyway, right?”</p><p>“Ah…so that’s what this is about.” Nicole’s expression dropped. “Look, I don’t think I you should go. Stheno’s dangerous.”</p><p>“So is Carmen. So are you. All witches are dangerous. I know you don’t want me to be involved in this whole witch thing, normal life and all that, but…I’m involved. You can’t change that without manipulating my memory. Which…you haven’t done, right?”</p><p>“Of course not! I <em>might</em> have tried planting a few suggestions in your head when we first met, but-”</p><p>“Wait, you did <em>what</em>?”</p><p>“How do you think I got past the cops? Simple hypnosis, a Jedi mind trick- oh damn, we haven’t gotten to Star Wars yet, have we?” Nicole put a hand on her chin, mentally adding it to the list of things to watch.</p><p>“Is that like a sequel to Star Trek- never mind that, you tried to hypnotize me?”</p><p>“Yeah, but you aren’t very suggestible. I was laying it on thick, but…” Nicole stroked her chin thoughtfully. “Those tattoos of yours must be illusion wards. Don’t know for sure but they’re definitely magic.”</p><p>“So illusion…hypnosis, whatever. You can mind control people?”</p><p>“Bah, not really. That would be compulsion magic. This is just a little whisper into your brain, manipulating the data going on in your synapses to get you to agree with me. I usually have to make physical contact, or get the subject to look at a believable enough proxy to get the suggestion through. Eye contact is important too.”</p><p>Jane immediately scooted away and averted her eyes from Nicole’s.</p><p>“Stop that, I already told you it doesn’t work on you. Your tattoos make you immune, and even if they didn’t, you’ve been around me long enough that I can’t convince you of anything you don’t want. Which is a real inconvenience, lemme tell you.”</p><p>“Yeah, well I’m glad you can’t control my thoughts. That’s fucked up, Nicole.”</p><p>The witch shrugged. “Ignorance is bliss. Now we’re in the situation of you having to stay behind while I meet Stheno and I gotta deal with you being all sour about it after.”</p><p>“No, you don’t, because I’m going with you. Now where’s the meeting happening?”</p><p>“Jane, I’d really rather not-”</p><p>“This is about <em>my</em> child, and <em>my</em> memories. You’re bringing me along, like it or not. Now when and where?” Jane crossed her arms.</p><p>Nicole blew a stray curl off of her forehead, taking a moment to think.</p><p>“You have to do as I say when you’re there, okay?” She finally said.</p><p>Jane suppressed a shriek of excitement, simply nodding her head in agreement.</p><p>“Alright…it’s going down in a week, at a pawn shop, Gate Star, owned by an importer…a real shit guy, named Liam Pak.”</p><p>“Is he a witch too?” Jane asked.</p><p>“Not really. He just acts as a supplier for witches and otherworlders – people from other realms, like me. He also runs an apartment complex for the otherworlders who can’t find a place to stay. He’s an extortionist little creep and as the guardian of Boston I hate him with every fiber of my being.”</p><p>“So just like any landlord. Why don’t you just use your magic to like, blow him away?”</p><p>“Because for one, I try not to kill people just because I can. You saw Spider-Man a few nights ago, you know about power and responsibility and junk. And for two, Liam runs the only gate in the city. My mother detests him so much she uses the one in Salem, but I don’t have the luxury of avoiding the little slimeball. Plus, I have to work with him to make sure new witches coming to this backwater little realm from Nexus worlds don’t die in the streets, or worse, end up destabilizing the precious balance this Earth has. Magic being a secret on this Earth means it’s largely unregulated, meaning some students come here to practice, criminals come here to hide, and some more creepy witches come here to do their creepy shit.”</p><p>Jane nodded. “Like with whoever was experimenting on Sunny.”</p><p>“That’s just a theory, but yes, if we’re looking for whoever was competent enough to saddle Sunny with that much magic, it’s probably someone who didn’t want to be found. Stheno controls most of the gates in the Midwest through her little cabal of flunkies.”</p><p>“Weren’t you one of her flunkies though?” Jane pointed out.</p><p>“Baby, I was <em>the</em> flunky. I’m not just talented or rare because of my timeline nonexistence, but I’m <em>royalty</em>. Even a crook like Stheno’s gotta respect that.”</p><p>“Didn’t expect you to pull the princess card.” Jane smirked.</p><p>“Marquess. And even if I’m not now, I was a bit of a smarmy shit back then. I was a big fish in a little pond, so naturally I had a huge amount of self-confidence. I guess I owe Stheno for smashing that confidence, though.”</p><p>“Wow, really?”</p><p>Nicole nodded. “She’s dangerous. Like, on another level from me entirely. She’s at least two thousand years old, she’s one of the few witches who have cracked the code on immortality, and she could level a city block by just thinking about it. Magical data flows out of her with every breath. If your…compass, as you call it, spins out of control around mere prodigies like me and Carmen…I’m afraid you’ll lose your lunch around her.”</p><p>Jane huffed. “I’ve come this far, I have to see it through. Plus, my spidey senses have gotten used to being around you, and I’m so acclimated to Sunny that I’ve never even noticed her power.”</p><p>“<em>Please</em> do not call your witch perception ‘spidey senses’.” Nicole hid her grin behind her hand.</p><p>“It’s your fault for showing me Spider-Man. Fuck magic, I want web powers! Thwip thwip!” Jane made hand motions towards objects in the room, imitating her favorite wall-crawler from Queens. Nicole burst out laughing.</p><p>“Oh the Pak-man is gonna hate you, and I love that. Stheno…we’ll see. She’s like you in a lot of ways.”</p><p>“What, a forgetful albino heart-throb?” Jane put on her best sparkling grin and pushed her hair back in her attempt to be suave.</p><p>“No, a weird, repressed dyke who desperately needs to get laid. Except in her case, she has the power to kill on a whim. And she actually gets laid.”</p><p>“Whaat? I get laid. All the time! I’m getting laid under the table right now! But for you babe, I’d go without for a century, only to spend one night of passion with a dame like you.” Jane said in her poor Humphrey Bogart impression.</p><p>“Pump the brakes, Lothario. I think we need to stop feeding you old media with white dudes in it. Then again…I’m a bit scared of what you’d do if I showed you <em>Shaft</em>. Might have to wait on that whole genre. And skip James Bond entirely.”</p><p>“Well how else am I gonna seduce women? I have <em>needs</em> Nicole, and I’ve been a single mom for the few years I’ve been…y’know, online. Now that Sunny’s safe I have an <em>opportunity</em>, if you know what I mean.”</p><p>“You mean sex? Jane, again I may dress like a lesbian but I really don’t know how to help you with that problem. I’ve only ever been with guys before. They’re simple. Cavemen, really. Bonk em on the head with a blunt instrument and drag em to your cave. I’ve bedded every kind of guy from a milkman to a literal god. They’re all the same. Just let ‘em talk about themselves for about thirty minutes and you can do anything with them.”</p><p>“Yeah but…well, I don’t get men. Like I can appreciate them, like if I see a guy with big muscles I go ‘wow! Look at them muscles!’ But then I get to thinking…what if those muscles were on a lady? And then my guts turn to butter and I end up taking one of my extra long showers, if you know what I mean.”</p><p>“<em>Yes I know what you mean,</em> you don’t have to use double entendres like I’m some sort of kissless virgin. Hell, without your memories, you’re the one who’s functionally a virgin here.” Nicole rubbed her temples.</p><p>“Sorry. I’m just so used…because of Sunny, I don’t really know how to talk about these things directly.”</p><p>“I can ask Neil. He and his partner want us over for dinner anyway; he’s pretty active in the local queer scene. Maybe he can hook you up with someone?”</p><p>“Yeah, or I can ask Stheno.” Jane chewed the inside of her cheek.</p><p>“What, for dating advice?”</p><p>“Yeah. Or maybe, out on a date. You said she likes women, right?”</p><p>“Jane I need you to sit and think for a moment what a terrible fucking idea that is.” Nicole said, “Better yet, take a whole night to consider how dumb the idea of trying to date someone who is not only centuries your elder, but is impossibly, unimaginably more powerful than you in a way inconceivable to your feeble brain. She is so much farther from human than you are, a god compared to you.”</p><p>“But it worked out for Mary, right? We got Jesus out of it. It worked for you too; we got Molly out of it! A messiah she ain’t, but she’s cute as a button and crazy smart-”</p><p>“That’s not my point. How would you explain dating an ancient god-witch to your daughter?”</p><p>“Ah…”</p><p>“Furthermore, I trust Molly to keep our secret better than even I can, but if you date another witch, no matter where they are on the scale, how can you expect them to keep the lid on this? Or not react to you being the custodian of the biggest center of magical energy on the Atlantic Seaboard?”</p><p>“Ah beans, I hadn’t considered that. Okay, I’ll strictly date humans. No witches or gods for me…” Jane slumped forwards. “It’s not fair though…everyone gets to bang a god but me.”</p><p>“It’s not all it’s cracked up to be. Molly’s father…it was sort of a transactional relationship. Beings of that kind of lifespan don’t tend to form warm connections with humans or even witches. We age in dog years to them, in the end getting attached to us is…sad.”</p><p>“Holy shit…is that how Spock feels?”</p><p>“Yeah.” Nicole said somberly.</p><p>“Wow…I get it, I guess. But other than that, how was it? Like…was it…god-sized?”</p><p>“Okay! Question time is over!” Nicole sat back up. “I’ve humored you enough – you’re lucky you’re cute when you’re mad, I just can’t say no to you when you want something. But I’m not going to recount stories from the notches in my bedpost. We got Molly out of it and as you said, she’s worth it. You keep talking about relationships like you want one, but do you even have any plans? I don’t even know what your type is, didn’t think you’d have one after only a while of being awake.”</p><p>“Uh…you?” Jane said sheepishly. “I kinda…like you.”</p><p>“Yeah. I picked up on that.” Nicole’s hands dropped to the table, tracing little circles along the burl of the wood. “I’m hoping you haven’t imprinted on me, being the first woman you met when you woke up. Like some sort of sexually frustrated duckling. Anyone else?”</p><p>“Uhhh…” Jane shifted uncomfortably.</p><p>“Any actresses catch your eye? Anything from the movies we’ve been watching?”</p><p>“Well…I like Halle Berry, Audrey Hepburn, the woman who plays the witch in The Wizard of Oz, and that lady from that scary one…”</p><p>Nicole sighed. “Well at least you have good taste, and I’m glad to be in the same league as Halle Berry-“</p><p>“I think you’re prettier than her.” Jane blurted out. She looked down at the table. “Sorry.”</p><p>“It’s fine. I’m really flattered Jane, but…I don’t know if I can return your feelings. Not like that. I don’t really…dance on that side of the rainbow. Sorry to disappoint you.”</p><p>“Don’t be sorry!” Jane said, gesticulating wildly. “You have no reason to apologize! I’m, you know- it’s sorta…deviant, I guess? Not normal. It doesn’t seem normal anyway. Haven’t seen any women like me in the movies we’ve seen…you’re the only one who seems to get it, and treat me like it’s normal.” Jane closes inwards on herself, bringing her knees up to her chest and pulling her arms inwards.</p><p>“That’s because you are normal. You woke up with no conditioning of this shitty world’s conceptions of what ‘normal’ is. On Terra Aurei, the nexus where Molly, Phaedra and I are from, homosexual relationships are totally normal. To me, this is the backwards, deviant world. One fucked up Earth among an infinite amount of fucked up Earths. Hey…” Nicole put a hand under Jane’s chin, lifting up her face to make eye contact. “You should get some sleep.”</p><p>“I’m not tired, though.” Jane said. She cursed mentally at the blush she felt spreading across her face.</p><p>Nicole smirked. “See? My suggestion spells don’t work on you. You’re safe from the dangers of my hypnotism!”</p><p>“Gah!” Jane tore herself from Nicole’s gaze. “Quit it! I never know when you’re teasing me or not!”</p><p>“And that’s what makes it so fun!” Nicole laughed. “We should hit the sack, though, it’s getting late and I’m hoping we can both take the kids to the park tomorrow morning, if you’re up for it.”</p><p>“Sure…” Jane said, rubbing the small dots tattooed under her eyes. At least they seemed to be good for something other than drawing weird gazes. “Nicole..?”</p><p>“Yeah?”</p><p>“Is there a spell to make me…normal? Like, into guys like you are?” Jane asked, still mentally begging her face to stop blushing.</p><p>“Yeah, a few. Most common is a sort of…serum, I guess. I think Liam might sell it.”</p><p>“How much d’you think it costs?”</p><p>“More than you can afford. And I’m not going to help you get it. You’re perfect the way you are, there’s no reason to change your brain patterns any more than they already have been.”</p><p>“So you’re fine with me being <em>into</em> you? And living in your house like a bum?”</p><p>Nicole smirked again. “Baby, with my cheekbones? I’m used to everyone being <em>into</em> me. I’m not kicking you out onto the cold Boston streets over some temporary crush you have on me. If I abandoned every friend who liked me I’d be staring at an empty kitchen right now, probably neck deep in booze and self-pity. So don’t feel bad about having a crush on me. You’re in a very big and illustrious club.”</p><p>“God you’re such an asshole sometimes.”</p><p>“Yeah, but you wanna fuck me anyway. That’s the beauty of this bone structure baby, it’s literally unfair how hot I am.” Nicole winked. “G’night, friend.”</p><p>“Sleep well, friend.” Jane said, smiling wistfully to herself as Nicole left. She held her position in the kitchen chair until she heard the door close down the hall. She sighed, picking herself up from the chair and moving to the sink to fill up a glass of water.</p><p>“Fuck.” She said to herself, before chugging the glass of water, placing the empty cup in the sink with a sigh. She clicked the lights of the kitchen off, lumbering down the hall, her cheeks still burning. It was going to be another lonely night on her mattress in the office.</p><p> </p><p>The week passed quickly, and despite what she had said, Nicole was even more distant than she had been before. Every moment she could, Nicole was either away or with one of the kids. Not that Jane didn’t want her around the girls. Nicole was fun to have around; she managed to match Sunny’s energy and Molly’s curiosity well enough, and was a good sport enough to let Sunny win sometimes when they played together – although she refused to let up on the trash talk, which Jane found a bit excessive. They would read together sometimes, play board games, and of course, catch up on Jane’s “studies” into pop culture. Nicole had even found a way of involving the girls in looking for a school they could go to, much to Jane’s chagrin. Even if she didn’t have a chance with her, Jane still wanted to spend some time with Nicole if only just to talk like adults. Between the four of them, Molly was the rudest, just in her pure bluntness. Until finally, the day came – Nicole took the day off, checking her watch all morning, before nodding to Jane at noon.</p><p>“Alright girls, Jane and I are going out for the night. Neil and his partner Emilio have invited us over for dinner, and we’re gonna get a head start on traffic before we head out. I thought you two would be responsible enough without me calling a babysitter or Phaedra, so prove me right by not burning the place down, okay?” Nicole said.</p><p>“Neil the barber?” Sunny asked, careful to dodge the request not to burn the apartment to the ground.</p><p>“He’s a stylist, actually. He’d better be, with the amount of money we pay him. And yeah, we’ve been friends for a while. We’re gonna get dressed and head out soon, I’ll order a pizza – Molly, make sure to give the delivery guy the money <em>and</em> the tip.”</p><p>“Got it.” Molly said noncommittally, laying on her back on the couch and reading a book.</p><p>“Sunny, make sure Molly gives the pizza guy the tip.”</p><p>“Roger!” Sunny said.</p><p>“Molly, make sure Sunny doesn’t play with fire.”</p><p>“Got it.” The girl said again from the couch. Nicole sighed with trepidation, pulling Jane aside into the hallway.</p><p>“Alright Jane, get dressed in something nice this time, from when we went shopping, okay?”</p><p>“Sure. Nice cover, the dinner thing. Think we’ll actually be out that late, though? It’s just a meeting with Stheno.”</p><p>“No, we’re actually going to dinner, so I need you to actually dress nice.”</p><p>“Wait, I thought we were going to see Stheno at that pawn shop?” Jane huffed.</p><p>“Don’t jump to conclusions, we <em>are</em> going ahead with the meeting, you monochromatic giant. I just also decided to arrange dinner afterwards. Kill two birds with one stone <em>and</em> get some free food out of the deal.”</p><p>“So, we’re going to dinner with two humans after a meetup with a witch gangster?”</p><p>“Basically. I’m nothing if not efficient. So make sure it’s something <em>nice</em>, not another white t-shirt with jeans. Something high-waisted, or <em>modern</em> at the very least? Class it up by actually wearing a bra, you know?”</p><p>“Fine. And I take offense to being called a monochrome giant. I’m above average height and I have very nice rosy cheeks. You probably just can’t see them from down there.”</p><p>“Har har. <em>I’m</em> above average, <em>you</em> are like one of those Siberian mountain women you see at the Olympics.”</p><p>“In what timeline are you above average height? Or did they make women itty-bitty in the forties?”</p><p>“I’ll have you know the average height for women my age is five feet, four inches! I’m a whole two inches taller than that, you fucking pylon.”</p><p>“Huh? Sorry, I can’t hear you from down there, I’m too busy being half a foot taller than you.”</p><p>“Freak of nature. You’re like Frankenstein’s monster.” Nicole hissed. “Now get dressed! I’ve got a pizza to order! Shoo! Shoo!”</p><p>Jane laughed to herself quietly as she returned to her room and picked an appropriately ‘fancy’ outfit she had gotten from their shopping spree at a secondhand shop. Despite Nicole offering to take them to an upper class store, Jane had never considered those clothes worth it for her. For Sunny? Absolutely. But she was content wearing what was comfortable. Plus, newer fabrics made her itch and sweat. She snickered to herself, though, as she’d spent half of her savings to buy a secret outfit to ‘wow’ Nicole with. She got the outfit on and looked at herself in the tiny desk mirror in the office. <em>‘Jane, you fashion genius. This’ll knock Nicole’s socks off.’</em> She leaned forward and carefully applied some lipstick (it was really just tinted lip balm) and attempted to apply some eyeliner before poking herself in the eyeball a few times. Cursing, she closed the tube and instead opted to slick her hair back with some pomade she’d gotten from Nicole’s drawer of hair products that had been unused ever since Bo Derrick had apparently “ruined braids for [her] forever” (in her own words), before posing in her tiny mirror a few more times. ‘<em>Go time.’ </em>She grabbed her trusty jacket and threw it over her shoulder, strutting out of the room.</p><p>“Okay. Thank you, they’ll have the tip ready. Don’t believe them if they say they don’t have it.” Nicole said, before hanging up the phone. “Okay Jane, you ready-” Nicole cut herself short when she saw Jane’s outfit.</p><p>“Mama you look awesome! Super pretty!” Sunny said, looking up from her comic book. Molly managed a grimace. Nicole looked like she had seen a ghost.</p><p>“Jane…you sure about…this ensemble?”</p><p>“Dunno, you afraid I’d outshine you?”</p><p>“That’s…one way of putting it.”</p><p>“How do I look?” Jane struck a pose she had seen from a strangely arousing shampoo commercial. “Ravishing?”</p><p>“Jane, put your arms down, we can all see your armpit hair. It looks like Santa’s beard.” Nicole said. “Furthermore, what happened with your eyeliner?”</p><p>Jane’s expression fell with her arms. “I…don’t have any clue on how to put on eyeliner.”</p><p>“Huh. You were wearing it the night we met. I had hoped muscle memory would work for you. Alright.” Nicole got up and patted her seat on the couch. “I’ll fix it for you.”</p><p>Jane sat obediently, crossing her arms in front of her. “Other than that, how do I look?”</p><p>“You look so pretty mama! Your hair looks like that guy in that movie!” Sunny said excitedly.</p><p>“I concur.” Molly said, without even looking up from her book.</p><p>“Wait, which movie?” Jane asked nervously. Sunny drew a blank expression.</p><p>“Uhh I forgot.”</p><p><em>‘Perfect,’ </em>Jane thought, <em>‘For all I know I look like that Christopher Walken asshole.’ </em>Nicole pulled a tube of eyeliner from her suit pocket and straddled Jane’s hips, tilting her chin upwards to make eye contact. Jane immediately felt herself flush with embarrassment.</p><p>“Uh, what are you doing?” Jane gulped. This was by far the most homoerotic situation she had been in and her brain was on five-alarm red alert.</p><p>“Fixing your eyeliner. Look up for me, please. No, not with your head, with your eyes. Thank you.” Nicole said.</p><p>“So uh…you always have a tube of eyeliner on you?”</p><p>Nicole stopped. “Wait, do you not?”</p><p>“Not usually, no.” Jane exhaled. For some reason, it was getting hard to breathe.</p><p>“Ooo, Nicole can you do my makeup next?” Sunny begged excitedly.</p><p>“Not this time Sunshine, your mom and I are pressed for time. Besides you’re a bit young for it.”</p><p>“Awwwwwh.” Sunny whined dramatically as Nicole continued her work.</p><p>“Jane?” Nicole asked, motioning for her to look down.</p><p>“Mhm?”</p><p>“It really is a nice outfit. Although I’ve never understood sleeveless turtlenecks – like, what weather are they made for?”</p><p>“Uh…”</p><p>“And you picked high waisted pants but they’re boot cut and you’re wearing converse.”</p><p>“Yeah, well-“</p><p>“And yet again, you’re dressed in all black, further adding to your monochrome look. And you should really shave your armpits if you’re gonna wear something sleeveless.”</p><p>“Okay, I get it, I am not as sharp as you!” Jane huffed.</p><p>“I think you look pretty mom…” Sunny said in quiet voice.</p><p>“But you look good regardless. You pull it the hell off, you long tall mama. Now, how’s this?” Nicole pulls a compact from her pocket and clicks it open, and Jane saw herself – it was a longer, more cat-eye look than she had thought of going for, but they complimented her narrow gray eyes quite well – Jane didn’t consider herself pretty, but for a moment she mistook the woman in the mirror for the type who got all kinds of attention.</p><p>“Wow…” She said breathlessly. Nicole smirked with satisfaction and hopped up off of the couch, stowing her makeup tools back safely inside her jacket.</p><p>“Wow mom! You’re always really pretty but like, it’s like Nicole used magic!” Sunny said in enough genuine awe to make Jane consider whether her compliments before had just been to spare her feelings.</p><p>“Yeah, Nicole’s pretty magical.” Jane said, pushing her hair back anxiously. She didn’t want to get up; just that moment of close contact had made her endorphins go wild.</p><p>“Oh <em>brother.</em>” Molly said exasperatedly. Jane got up, motivated by the eternal sass of the younger Saint-Etienne.</p><p>“Alright, go brush your teeth and put on some deodorant, mountain lady. We need to get a move on.” Nicole said. Jane complied, marching down the hall. “You kids behave yourselves as well.”</p><p>Her admonition was met with a groan from Molly and excited thumbs-up from Sunny. Neither of them instilled much confidence in her.</p><p>“Alright, I’ll go start up the car. Tell Jane to meet me down there.”</p><p> </p><p>Nicole stopped the car in a strip mall parking lot. The storefronts were all empty save for one, Gate Star Pawn Shop. Jane pulled on her jacket.</p><p>“This is really a gate to another world?”</p><p>“Yeah. Like I said, Liam’s a real slimeball, but he is a very useful tool. Emphasis on the word <em>tool.</em> Don’t take him at his word, don’t buy anything he tries to sell you, and don’t smoke anything he offers you. Otherworld drugs are an infinitely mixed bag and you do <em>not</em> want to be hooked with a professional asshole like Liam Pak as your only dealer.”</p><p>Jane nodded, popping the collar on her jacket. “Landlords. I know the drill.”</p><p>“Right, let’s go.”</p><p>The two women exited the sedan, Nicole leading the way. When she stepped inside, her demeanor instantly changed to her warm, jolly persona that Jane was used to. It almost gave her whiplash seeing the transformation.</p><p>“Heyyy Pak-Man! How’re you doing buddy?” She began jovially, holding the door for Jane. Her photosensitive eyes burned at the neon lights hanging from the wall, the buzzing setting off another migraine almost instantly. She bit her lip, but steadied herself on one of the many dusty shelves of junk inside. She felt it, the internal compass in her gut spinning out of control. But where it was a nagging, pulling sensation around Carmen and Nicole, here it was a burning feeling, like it was threatening to come apart inside her. Jane swallowed some air and closed her eyes.</p><p>“You okay?” Nicole asked softly, before being interrupted by a loud, gratingly British voice coming from the back.</p><p>“Yo! If it isn’t the lovely Nicky! And who is this? Your boyfriend?” A man came from the back. Jane could hardly get a good look at him from her pained squint but did spot the glint of a pinky ring on his left hand; the telltale sign of a douchebag.</p><p>“I’m a woman, wiseass.” Jane snapped, bringing herself up to her full height and opening her jacket.</p><p>“Well aren’t you ever! Damn Nicole, where did you find yourself a vampire? Nah I’m just playing with ya’, Snow White. What’s your name, gorgeous?”</p><p>“This is Jane.” Nicole said, her smile unfaltering. Jane nodded in affirmation, her eyes slowly getting accustomed to her surroundings The room was filthy, guitars and guns hung from the same racks, junk was stacked on shelving on the walls with no particular order, some of the larger things were on the floor. None of it looked especially magical, it looked like every other shady pawn shop, with a shady owner to boot. Jane got a good look at Liam Pak. He was shorter than Nicole, a man in his mid-thirties with a devilishly (the word “devilish” literally came to mind for Jane) handsome face, an expensive-looking but stained shirt hung over his willowy physique– he looked like he had at one point been quite athletic, but had been slightly stretched out, like he hadn’t quite hit the gym in quite a while. Not only did he have a pinky ring, but he also had a gold tooth. Lovely.</p><p>“Jane huh? Tell me Snow White, do the carpets match the drapes?” He asked from his caged off little counter. Nicole’s smile shrank a bit but remained on her face. Jane leaned over to Nicole.</p><p>“What’s that mean? I’ve been asked before, but…” Jane whispered.</p><p>“He’s asking if your pubic hair is also white. Ignore him. He’s a lecherous ass.”</p><p>“Nicole, baby, don’t about me like that, you’re breaking my heart.” The man said, sitting down on a stool.</p><p>“Yeah, they do match. I’m far too tired to play games with you, so we’ll just be seeing Stheno now…” Jane said, balling up her fist and preparing to move towards the back when Nicole slightly tugged on the hem of her jacket, motioning her to stay back.</p><p>“Stheno? She told me only to let Nicole through. Sorry Snow White, but maybe we can make the best of this situation, huh?” The man grinned. Nicole tugged Jane’s jacket again.</p><p>“Don’t worry Jane, I’ll explain to Stheno. If you don’t mind waiting a bit, I’ll get you in. Sound fair?” Nicole looked up at Jane, almost pleading her with her eyes.</p><p>“I don’t mind at all.” Jane said, resisting the urge to grit her teeth. She chewed on the inside of her cheek instead.</p><p>“Good girl, I’ll be right out.” Nicole straightened her suit jacket. “Behave yourself Liam, and don’t sell her anything I’d get mad at. She’s cleared for your otherworld inventory though. She’s a local, and she’s never been traveling before, so she’ll like basically anything from another realm. Just…no substances, no potions, got it?”</p><p>“You've got it ma’am.” He said with the least trustworthy wink imaginable. “I’ll keep it to the basics. Might wanna tell Stheno to tone down the pheromones if she’s never met her before.”</p><p>“If I could get that woman to do anything, I would be far less stressed in my life.” Nicole said, straightening her tie.</p><p>“Wait, pheromones?” Jane asked. Before she could get an answer, Nicole disappeared behind a bead curtain in the back of the shop.</p><p>“So, Snow White, you wanna browse my inventory for witches only?” Liam asked, leaning forwards on his palms.</p><p>“Something tells me I’m about to get scammed.” Jane crossed her arms.</p><p>“Only if you’re not smart, right? I’m the only source for some of the goods I’ve got, love. Because of our deal, Miss Nicky is a good sport on most of the import rules, so some of my items are only for bona fide witches. Emergency gate keys, thaumaturgy serums – known to the layman as magic potions, lots of lesson books for students, data ink – I see you have some warding tattoos already, so I’ll assume you’re familiar with that – as well as plenty of substances to…elevate you.”</p><p>“Not here for drugs. I have a daughter, so I already have free happiness.” Jane said. It was a corny line but it had worked a few times in New York.</p><p>“Ah, family gal huh? Is there a <em>Mister</em> Snow White in the picture?”</p><p>“No, I’m a single mom.” Jane said honestly, before internally regretting that decision.</p><p>“Interesting! Well I’ve always wanted a family myself; just never found the right lass, you know? I meet a lot of interesting chicks in my line of work. Witches of course, but you have otherworlders like Stheno who aren’t <em>quite</em> human, you know? My last girlfriend was a Cyclops, yeah? One eye.” He winked as if to demonstrate the basic concept of monocular vision to Jane.</p><p>“What, did she not see through your bullshit with just the one?”</p><p>“Hah! You’re funny love, you really are. Nah, there were...problems, in the bedroom. I like big girls, tall ones, yeah? But I kinda like it when they take charge, and she was more of the type who liked-”</p><p>“Riveting. Tell me more about the non-humans, though.” Jane interrupted. She found the idea of non-humans much more fascinating than whatever went on in the bedroom of a sleazy landlord. She shivered at what his bedroom even looked like.</p><p>“Oh right then. Uh there was this girl with two heads, named Eurydice? Only one head liked to be called Yuri and the other Didi and one was into me, the other was <em>not</em> quite into me, and in the end the whole relationship fell apart. I think she manages the gate for one of the Nexus worlds now or something, one of the Terras, was it?”</p><p>“Terra Aurei?” Jane asked tentatively.</p><p>The man snapped his fingers. “That’s the one! Yeah, loads of non-humans there.”</p><p>Jane got excited – Nicole’s home world had actual non-human otherworlders. “Any others?”</p><p>“Hmm, well Stheno’s a trip. It’s hard to even be around her. Apparently she transformed herself so she emits a constant suggestion spell that make people fall in love with her, she calls them her ‘pheromones’, apparently”</p><p>“You’re joking. How does she get any work done?”</p><p>“Apparently you're just supposed to get used to it. Supposedly. I’ve only actually been face-to-face with her once, the rest of the time she sends that creepy smiley lass out to talk to me.”</p><p>“Carmen?”</p><p>“Yeah. You’ve met her?”</p><p>“Unfortunately.” Jane said. Even a sleaze like this guy was prone to make a correct judgment about someone every once in a while. “What’s with her and that smile? Is she an otherworlder too?”</p><p>“She’s an otherworlder, but as far as I can tell she’s just one creepy cunt. No joke, one time I walked into the back room, and she was eating <em>rats</em>.”</p><p>“Excuse me?”</p><p>“Yeah. Whole, down the hatch, smiling like mad the entire time. She just looked at me and told me to close the door. Fucking goosebumps. Stheno though? Classy fuckin’ bird, I tell you. Just don’t lose your composure when you meet her, yeah?”</p><p>“I’ll keep it in mind. So, speaking of...pheromones and such, you got any potions that could…y’know, change who you’re attracted to?” Jane asks, shifting nervously.</p><p>Liam smiled. “Now you know Miss Nicky told me not to, love.”</p><p>Jane leaned forward a bit, closer to the bars of his gated counter. “C’mon. She’s an otherworlder. How’s a local witch supposed to get any magic done if she can’t…experiment? Besides, I’m sure she meant like, the big restricted stuff. Not simple stuff like sexuality potions, right?”</p><p>“Ah a fellow connoisseur of kinky thaumaturgical serums, I see. I’ve gotcha Snow White, lemme get the platter of the good stuff. Be back in a moment, love.” He tapped the counter with his palm before walking down the short hallway where he kept his more restricted items. Jane took the opportunity to look at the pawned items at the front of the shop. A pair of vintage sunglasses with circular metallic frames, pistol magazines with no gun to accompany them, a track and field trophy, a video game console that looked like it had been used as a coaster for longer than it had been used for gaming, a fishbowl of condoms (<em>ew</em>), a set of guitar picks that looked as if they were so brittle they could snap just by looking at them, a fake rolex watch, a set of well-used pornographic magazines (<em>double ew</em>), and an old Ka-Bar knife in its sheath. Jane picked it up as the shopkeeper set a tray down behind the counter.</p><p>“Hey Liam, how much for the knife?”</p><p>“Why do you want it? You do blood magic? I have scalpels in the back.”</p><p>“Nah, just curious.” She spun the knife in her hand. “It’s a cool piece, though.”</p><p>“Knives aren’t really my thing, but yeah, pretty alright. Don’t know where I got it, must’ve been with one of the guns I got. Anyway, c’mere, this is the shit that you can’t get anywhere else in the universe – this universe, anyway.” Liam said, arranging the potions on the tray carefully. Jane slipped the knife into her back pocket and leaned against the counter.<br/>
“What’cha got for me, Liam?”</p><p>“Shipments have been coming in slower, so it’s mostly down to the virgin stuff. Temporaries, stick-on erogenous zones, shit you’d get in any Nexus street shop. But, right here we have the three most asked-for items in the shop. Semi-permanent, you’d have to drink em again to get rid of the effects. My favorite type of serum, really. This one,” He picked up the first vial, filled with a heavy black liquid that looked like sparkly nail polish, “Is the one you requested. Changes the way you swing. Or moreso adds a direction to swing in. This one is good for a little girl-on-girl action, if you get what I’m saying.” He said with an unsubtle wink. Jane grimaced internally.</p><p>“You got any that would go the other way? Make a girl who likes girls…like guys?”</p><p>Liam smirked. “Oh, now I see. Sorry love, I’m fresh out. I’ll let you know when I get some in though, and maybe we could uh, test it out, right?”</p><p>Jane suppressed the urge to retch. “Yeah, uh, what do the others do?”</p><p>“This one is real simple but real sought after, frequented by adventurous couples. Let’s just say if you take this, you get to piss standing up.” He waggled a vial of clear, viscous fluid in front of her.</p><p>“I don’t quite get it, but-”</p><p>“It’ll give you a dick! Y’know, a tallywacker, a ham candle, a pork sword.”</p><p>“Aaand now I regret asking. I miss that time four seconds ago before I knew what that was.”</p><p>“Nah, all the lasses I’ve tried it with love it. Don’t be insensitive love, you asked to see the kinky stuff! Besides, I sell plenty of these to lesbos, you should be into it.”</p><p>“Maybe I’d try it if I had a girlfriend, but as it is now, I’m fine with what I got. <em>Next potion, please.</em>” Jane asked, trying to erase the phrases 'ham candle' and 'pork sword' from her mind. Maybe total retrograde amnesia wasn’t so bad.</p><p>“Pfft. You're no fun. Last cool one I’ve got is this.” He held up a dripping green one that looked like something an alien with a cold would blow into a handkerchief. “Your classic witch’s brew. Love potion. Of course, it’s really just an overhyped aphrodisiac, but this stuff is liquid gold – totally safe to trade but bloody difficult and expensive to produce in large quantities.”</p><p>“Now that one I am interested in.” Jane mused. “How much?”</p><p>“For a friend of Nicole’s? One hundred standard Nexus tickets.”</p><p>“I’m an Earthling, remember? How much in cold hard cash?”</p><p>“Comes out to about six grand. Not exactly walking-around money…sorry love.”</p><p>“Damn…what am I thinking though? No point in me having any, I don’t have anyone to use it with.”</p><p>“What about Nicole? She’s a top bird, I used to think she used the same kind of charm that Stheno’s got. But nah, she’s just got pure confidence, and looks, and-”</p><p>“And she smells like cinnamon and vanilla.” Jane finished.</p><p>“Yeah she does, don't she! Dose her up with a bit of love potion and have the best night of both your lives! Spike her morning coffee, she’ll take one look at you and voila! Happily ever after for Snow White and her Princess Charming.”</p><p>Jane had one fleeting moment where she agreed with the idea, a stunted fantasy of fairytale bliss with Nicole. It passed as quickly as it came, replaced by waves of guilt. She immediately felt dirty, disgusted at the thought. She pushed her self-hatred into the rage building in her gut. “Not on your fucking life, you British donkey fucker.” Her hands shot out between the bars, grabbing the little man by his collar and yanking him against the grate, slowly pulling him off of his feet until he was eye level with her. He dropped the potion and it broke against the countertop, green goo and glass spilling everywhere. He squealed a bit in surprise, but Jane cut him off.</p><p>“Let me make something extremely fucking crystal clear to you, you tremendous waste of skin, you collection of shitty taste and even shittier breath: were it not for the mere possibility of Nicole being mad at me for it, I would rip you out from between these bars and pound your head against the floor until there’s nothing left but that tacky fucking gold tooth hanging from your lower jaw in a puddle of bone gristle and red paste. I respect Nicole, and even if I didn’t, I wouldn’t dose her with anything you sell. I’m not here with her because she’s hot or dresses like a fucking science teacher or has perfume, I’m here because I <em>love</em> her, something a shallow twit like you couldn’t buy or understand for one second of your putrid existence.”</p><p>“Jesus bloody fuck, let go of me you mad cow! Fuck--” He attempted to pry her hands off of his collar, and she pulled him tighter against the bars. “Are you the bloody terminator or something? Let me go I said!” Her grip stayed firm on him, even when he jarred as the top button of the stained silk shirt burst open and sailed over her head. Jane’s eyes, usually squinted shut, were wide open, bloodshot with fury.</p><p>“You hear me? I love her already, and not a goddamn potion in the world, Gestalt, whatever could make me love her more or less. And however she likes me is just fine by me. I’d rather pine for her for the rest of my life rather than buying her attraction out of a bottle from some sleazy landlord fuck like you. You think love is having sex? Love is a woman opening up her home to you and helping raise your daughter. Love is someone taking you in off the streets and making sure your child goes to sleep in a warm bed with a full belly. You got that, you twisted shitbag?”</p><p>“You’re not making any sense you daft cunt! I can’t breathe…” He sputtered, drool falling off of his teeth and onto his shirt</p><p>“Good.” Jane squeezed him harder. “I can’t fuckin' breathe either when I see her, so maybe you finally <em>are</em> getting it. You understand the tightness I feel in my chest when I see her, pal? It’s a lot like this. If I can deal with it every day, certainly you can withstand it for a few seconds…”</p><p>“N-Nicole!” He gurgled.</p><p>“Yeah, you understand now? What it’s like?” The wall holding the grate groaned a bit as Jane pulled him tighter. She heard something in his ribcage pop. "Well? I thought you liked a big girl taking charge. Having fun yet, Liam?"</p><p>“Nicole!” He gasped.</p><p>“Oh, don’t mind me, I wouldn’t want to interrupt whatever you two are doing.” Nicole said. Jane dropped him immediately, letting him fall with a dry <em>thud</em> against the linoleum flooring. Nicole walked up to the counter, looking down at Liam, gasping and holding his side.</p><p>“Yeah, I usually want to strangle him when he talks to me too, but it’s bad for business.” She said with a smirk. Her tie was loosened and her face looked a bit shiny with a sheen of sweat, but otherwise seemed unfazed by Jane’s attempted homicide. “You alive down there Liam?” She called out, which was answered with a groan from the shopkeeper, which she met with a satisfied nod.</p><p>“Nicole…holy shit, I’m so sorry, I…how long have you been standing there?” Jane said, breathing heavily. Her headache came back to her in full force, and she glared her eyes back closed.</p><p>“Long enough to see you go Darth Vader on this bitch. And long enough to see him try to sell you contraband.” Nicole said, grabbing the two unbroken vials, flicking green love potion goop off of them. “Thaumaturgical serums that edit the data streams of the brain or physically alter the human body are illegal to import to backwater worlds like this, for the exact sort of ‘prank’ you just described, Liam. If you’re going to break those rules, at least don’t be dumb enough to try and sell them to my roommate.” Nicole said smoothly, placing the vials in her pocket.</p><p>Liam groaned again from the linoleum. Jane wiped something from her forehead. Whether it was sweat or some of Liam’s spittle, she didn’t know, and didn’t want to know either.</p><p>“So um…what happened to you?” Jane asked, as Nicole wiped her own forehead with her pocket square.</p><p>“It’s warm in there. Stheno likes a muggy atmosphere, it helps her project that stupid suggestion charm better. I’m gonna assume Liam told you about it?”</p><p>“Yeah, more or less.”</p><p>“Works a bit like that so-called love potion there. Makes a vortex of attraction around Stheno. You get used to it…or at least, you get used to swimming along the current. Just act like she’s me and be your regular awkward gay self around her. That’s basically what everyone is forced to do in her presence. Fucking inconvenient as all hell."</p><p>“Yeah that sounds like a pain in the ass. I’ve got it though. It’s gonna be wild to see you get flustered though. Unflappable Nicole, swooning for the ancient old witch lady.”</p><p>“Shut up. You’ll be caught in the same vortex as me, and knowing how very flappable <em>you</em> are, you’ll be too busy drooling to notice. Follow me.”</p><p>Nicole lead Jane past the beaded curtain, down a long dark hallway. She couldn’t see the walls, only Nicole marching towards the square of light at the end of the hall. The hallway felt longer than the building, or even the strip mall was capable of holding, and Jane was almost winded by the time they got to the door at the end of it, a pink neon light shining from underneath. Jane looked at the door. It looked almost too normal, like cheap set dressing or something a cartoonist would draw in the background. No details beyond simple cheap wood and a round brass doorknob. She noticed a cut in the door frame though, and ran her hand over it.</p><p>“Hey, I noticed these cuts on the doors in your apartment. What are they?”</p><p>“Gate holes. Some dumb witches use emergency gate keys to invade your personal abode to get around whatever wards you have on your front door, so we cut a notch in a door frame and put a simple data ward on it. Prevents the simple geometry required for dimension gate to be opened in a door frame by adding angles required for entrance.”</p><p>“So they’re to keep away…witch assassins?”</p><p>“Or over-curious sorcerers after your secrets. Witches are as curious as they are paranoid, so usually they’re good to have anyway, just in case. There’s also the possibility of Hunters.”</p><p>“Hunters?”</p><p>“Witch hunters. Well, they hunt more than witches but we tend to be their main target. They’re basically nutjob extremists who dedicate their entire pathetic existence to wiping us out, despite how outnumbered they are…but they’re usually lone wolves who go out in a blaze of glory. Not many ways to band together in an organized group when they have an aversion to magic, hygeine, and telephones, so they usually operate in tiny cells or alone. Some of them are competent enough to be wary of though. Humans who can actually pose a threat to a witch are rare but…worth being paranoid about from time to time. And they're starting to co-operate more, with the internet and everything. Anyway, you ready?”</p><p>Jane grimaced. “Do you think they’d come after Sunny?”</p><p>“Yeah. But we’ll protect her. Don’t worry. Hopefully we can figure out a way to do that with Stheno’s help.”</p><p>“Okay. I think I’m ready.” Jane put a hand on her stomach and took a deep breath, trying to tell her witch perception to calm the fuck down for once. “I’m ready.”</p><p>“Remember, the charm temporarily remaps the pathways in your brain to find her irresistible. It’s hard to strike a deal with her like that. So just follow my lead and try to keep a steady breath. Remember, the Nicole you deal with in there isn’t really me. Think of it as no more than a mirage. An illusory Nicole that's just as dumb and gay as you are. Ready?” Jane nodded, and Nicole nodded back.</p><p>The witch put her hand on the doorknob. “Into the belly of the beast, then.” She swung the door open and a wave of heat hit them both. The room was uncomfortably humid, and Jane realized the pink lights were heat lamps, like she’d seen in pet shops. They lined the walls, tinting the room a reddish pink. Couches wrapped against each wall in the room, with a coffee table in the center covered in a silver tray, a few magazines in a language that was definitely not of this planet, and what looked like a small hookah pipe. Carmen sat in a corner, her smile the smallest Jane had seen it. Her cheeks were fully flushed and she sat with her legs crossed, her expression somewhere between annoyance and boredom mixed with her tiny little grin. She was looking at a person in the center of the room, a slender woman who looked to be in her late thirties, with copper skin and a head of thick curls that covered her forehead down to her eyes, wearing bell-bottom jeans and rattlesnake cowboy boots. She also wore an open blazer of matching rattlesnake skin, with nothing underneath, exposing some rather glorious abs to the world. The only thing Jane found remotely inhuman about her was her lack of any apparent breasts – her chest was completely smooth, with flat pectorals but no actual nipples. <em>‘Whatever,’ </em>Jane thought, <em>‘She’s still hot. I wouldn’t say </em>irresistible, <em>but I definitely would.’</em> She made a mental note that maybe she was into slightly weirder stuff, and maybe she was too quick to judge some of Liam’s kinks.</p><p>“Miss Doe.” The woman pushed the curls from her forehead. Despite the darkness of the room, she wore wraparound shades with blackout lenses. “I’m assuming. You’re a lot taller than I had been told. Nicky, you didn’t tell me you had upgraded from gods to goddesses.”</p><p>“Ignore that. She’ll flirt with you to try and make me jealous.” Nicole said, loosening her tie further and sitting down on the couch opposite from Stheno, a bit unsteadily. Jane followed her lead and sat next to her.</p><p>“I’m definitely flattered. Don’t know if I’m <em>feeling</em> the pheromones though, but you’re certainly making me blush, Miss Stheno.” Jane did her best to be smooth, followed by a sharp glance from Nicole.</p><p>“Oh my, she’s handsome <em>and</em> polite. Careful Nicky, I might steal this one away from you.” Stheno said.</p><p>“Hn…don’t. Please.” Nicole said weakly, pulling her pocket square out to wipe her forehead again.</p><p>“Miss Stheno...” Jane began.</p><p>“Just Stheno is fine, I hate formalities.” The woman inclined her head.</p><p>“Stheno. I don’t think it’s fair of you to try and negotiate on these terms. And I feel like you using this charm is just as bad as dosing someone with a love potion without their knowledge.” Jane said, placing her jacket on one arm of the couch and leaning forwards, leaning her elbows against her knees and lacing her fingers.</p><p>“Watch you mouth around her, low witch trash.” Carmen spat dangerously.</p><p>“Don’t be so unfair to Stheno, Jane…you’re kinda coming off as an asshole.” Nicole offered in a less aggressive, but still pointed tone.</p><p>“You’re exactly right, Miss Doe.” Stheno said. “Just look at these two. Normally they’d be at each other’s throats, but this damnable pheromone charm makes them both into simpering fools. I miss my two star students and their bickering, Nicky’s rebellion and Carmen’s back-chat. I’ll be sure to get rid of this charm when I next shed my skin.” The woman says earnestly.</p><p>“No, Lady Stheno, no need for that, we like it.” Carmen cooed.</p><p>“Yeah it’s…uhm, it’s fine. Just don’t want to make you mad at us.” Nicole said, picking at her collar. Jane looked at her for a few moments.</p><p>“Wow, so this is what Nicole in love looks like. I can see the appeal of the charm, but-”</p><p>“It gets grating after a while, yes. I prefer to play matchmaker than the center of attention. I only incarnated with this spell to piss off an ex, which means five whole years of being treated like the Venus de Milo. You don’t seem to be affected though, Miss Doe.”</p><p>“Well, I mean, I think you’re pretty hot, but I don’t think I’ll lose my head over it. Guess I have a lot of practice from living with Nicole, huh?”</p><p>“It’s those damn ward tattoos.” Carmen snapped. “The markings of a low-level witch, trying to get even with her betters without learning how to cast her own damn wards.”</p><p>“Well, it looks like hers are working better than yours, Carmen.” Nicole said, forcing a smirk onto her trembling lips. “Looks like passive magic isn’t just for chumps, huh?”</p><p>Stheno cackled, a laugh that sounded much older than the body it was coming from. Something about it deeply disturbed Jane, but the other two women leaned forwards as if it was music to their ears. “Oh, there’s the bickering and competition I was missing! Oh Miss Doe, you bring out the <em>worst</em> in both of these women, and I just adore that. Now, the two of you, go to sleep. The big girls are talking.”</p><p>Upon the command, both Nicole and Carmen’s heads bobbed, their eyes closed. They didn’t slump down, but they seemed to enter a deep trance. Jane’s stomach twinged at Carmen, who remained smiling despite her catatonic state.</p><p>“That’s a cool trick. Guess suggestion magic has its plus sides after all. Um…do you know what’s with Carmen and her creepy ass smile?”</p><p>“Nicole’s actually responsible for that. A little magic experiment gone wrong. They actually had quite the bloody duel over it…even I can’t reverse it. Amazing how talented Nicole is. Dangerous, too, although she would be more dangerous if she weren't so lazy. Carmen was such a dour student too, I’m not sure if the smile actually makes her better.”</p><p>“Yeah, she creeps everyone the fuck out.”</p><p>“Careful, Miss Doe. They can both still hear you. They may be asleep, but it wouldn’t be convenient if you had to explain yourself over, so I made sure subconscious minds are…recording, so to speak, while their brains are dreaming no doubt some very enjoyable dreams.”</p><p>“Aaaand that creeps <em>me</em> the fuck out. One of these days I’ll have one of you witches explain magic to me.”</p><p>“Right, your amnesia. Or rather, forced memory erasure. Amnesia would be far easier to fix. The girls filled me in on the details. You and your daughter, the victims to some unknown witch. Well, I did some investigation in the month since Carmen let me know, and checked all of the Midwestern gates into this realm – you know what gates are, yes?”</p><p>“Yeah, Nicole’s filled me in on the gestalt. Gates get you from one realm to another, right.”</p><p>Stheno nodded. “In the location relative to the entrance gate. Enter a gate in Port Town, in the Eastwatch territory on one world, come out in Boston, Massachusetts in this one. Earth, Terra, Gaia, they all tend to be the same planet with different names, relatively similar continents, and more or less consistent gates. It’s a real bitch if you want to go to other colonized planets, but that’s not a problem for most people, since Earth and its sisters are home to most intelligent life in the Gestalt. That we know of, anyway. So knowing who passes through a gate is as simple as checking the signatures of passengers from every gate in Ohio and surrounding areas and cross-checking it to the relative energy output of your daughter. Sunny, right?”</p><p>“That’s correct.”</p><p>Stheno smiled. “Adorable name. Adorable kid, too, apparently. Nicole did her best to argue the case for her life despite Carmen advising me to eliminate her. I’m still weighing our options. I haven’t met the kid, I’m sure she’s lovely, but really…you must know the bind she has me in. That power is a threat even to me.”</p><p>Jane nods. “I understand. But I know she’s going to live, and you’re going to let her live.” She sat back, her hand moving to the combat knife in her back pocket.</p><p>The elder witch let out another hissing laugh. “I love a girl with confidence. A quality I made sure to instill in Nicole while she was under my tutelage. A shame it disintegrates when she’s under my spell. I’ve seen her flirt, too. She’s the type to take command, intimidate men and make them beg her for a chance…seeing her drool at me, well, it makes me feel like a failure as a teacher.”</p><p>“So you cross-checked the gates for otherworlders with more raw power than Sunny?”</p><p>“Ah, yes. I came up with a blank. Nobody who could match that specific output or above has crossed the gates. I found that strange, so I checked with my contemporaries in other regions, to have them check their gates. Nada. Whoever altered your daughter, they were local. Which…perturbs me.”</p><p>“How come?”</p><p>“Because on this backwater realm, there’s not enough home-grown talent on this planet to cast a single spell I’d call more than a beginner effort. Nicole has deigned to be the guardian of Boston, but she’s probably in the top five most powerful witches on the continent. And the first and fourth most powerful are also sitting in this room. This is one of those forgotten little realms where my students come to practice, that’s why some two-bit witch like me has control over the gates in three time zones. Compared to some of the creatures that exist out in the Gestalt, I’m a mote of dust. But I can appreciate the scale I’m at. To me, you are equally a mote of dust. My students come here to duel and often kill little motes of dust like you as a <em>warm-up</em>.”</p><p>“Oh but you wouldn’t blow me away, would you Stheno? It’d be a waste of such a pretty low witch such as myself.” Jane said. Despite her attempt at charm, a bead of sweat had formed at her temple. Stheno was on another level from Nicole. A bit of fear crept into her throat. “Besides I’m the only one who can resist your charms, and doesn’t that make <em>me</em> the irresistible one?”</p><p>Stheno laughed. “I should really take you on a date sometime, Miss Doe. May I call you Jane?”</p><p>“Of course. And I had discussed that possibility with Nicole, even. A date, anyway. She said you were into women, like I am, and my curiosity was certainly piqued at that. As a single mom, I can’t possibly find a steady girlfriend in the witch community, even if I could remember any of my spells.” Jane leaned back against the couch, spreading her arms across the back, momentarily forgetting that she hadn’t shaved her underarms. Stheno seemed captivated nonetheless, and Jane smiled to herself – she may not have ever been much of a witch or lover, but she seemed good at seducing this horrifyingly powerful titless snake lady – something that she found pride in and a little bit of concern over.</p><p>“Oh Jane, you really are wasted on Nicole. Oh, I wish I could take you in as a student, but dear old Nicky wouldn’t allow it. Isn’t that right dear?”</p><p>Nicole’s head picked back up. “Hmm? I mean…we could share her, Stheno…” She said groggily.</p><p>“See? Even under my spell she’s unwilling to let you go completely, Jane. You two would make a cute couple.”</p><p>Nicole nodded sleepily. “Yeah but…I can’t love her like <em>that</em>. Unless you told me too, Stheno.”</p><p>“God, you’re always so close to perfection, Nicky. But then you go and disappoint me like that.” Stheno said, sounding genuinely hurt by Nicole’s heterosexuality. <em>“Join the club” </em> Jane thought to herself. She bit her tongue to make sure she didn’t say it aloud.</p><p>“Don’t be mad, Stheno! I could kiss Jane if it would make you happy!” Nicole said, panic in her voice. She grabbed Jane’s shoulders. <em>“Yes, yes, yes!” </em>Jane screamed in her head. Even if it was an illusion, any Nicole contact was good Nicole contact.</p><p>“No, it wouldn’t. You ruined it, Nicky. It’s ruined.” Stheno said dramatically. <em>“No, no, no! Don’t take this from me you titless asshole!”</em> Jane closed her eyes as she felt Nicole retreat off of her, and she opened them, releasing the breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding in the whole time. Nicole slumped against an arm of the couch, looking melancholy.</p><p>“We should conclude our business. As we all know, whoever subjected Sunny to thaumaturgical and alchemical experimentation was, as far as we know, local. Almost assuredly the most powerful witch this Realm has produced. And that they’ve gone unnoticed until the incident in Ohio three years ago is the most damnably curious part about this puzzle. Thankfully, when Carmen investigated on that night, in December of 1999, she made sure to account for every witch who was at the scene, and interrogate any survivors. They’d all come in search of that burst of magical energy, the data wave of Sunny waking up. The one mistake this local witch made in covering up their tracks. Paranoid as witches often are, she used three witches, puppeteered with advanced compulsion magic, to discourage the curious witches. One of these witches was the former Guardian witch of Columbus, Ohio. The other two had been damaged beyond identification. Which by physical means, is an easy feat, but to erase their identities so thoroughly that they are unknown to us even through magical means…that’s no small task. Our local threat was skilled in mind control. ‘Skilled’ seems like too weak a word to put to it though. Mastery is more accurate. You’re lucky you got out with simply amnesia, Jane.”</p><p>“Wait, why didn’t my wards protect me from this witch’s hypnosis?” Jane asked, pointing to her tattoos.</p><p>“Data ink works by scrambling the messages magic sends to your corporeal body. Your warding tattoos will help deflect suggestion magic, but this wasn’t a mere whisper in your thought patterns. This was brainwashing. The compulsion-controlled witches also fought with enough competence to suggest the brainwashing was strong enough to be remote – no eye contact or incantation necessary. Suggestion magic plants a whisper in your mind; this level of compulsion hard-wires your brain into cooperation. Willpower and wards are flimsy against that.”</p><p>“That’s fucked.” Jane said.</p><p>“Agreed. Suggestion changes a person temporarily. Fun for a prank or to keep our world a secret from humans, but this…it’s illegal on most nexus worlds for a reason. But we aren’t on a nexus, are we? When Carmen wounded this witch’s puppets, and Nicole stepped onto the scene, this witch decided to fake their death and move on.”</p><p>“The gas main explosion? I thought it was fatal.”</p><p>“None of the corpses found at the scene could have contained that kind of power. Honestly…I wonder how much longer little Sunny can keep that power contained. Even a fragment of that much data would burn a normal person’s brain, and apparently she’s…normal?”</p><p>“As normal as any kid her age can be. She’s happy.” Jane shrugged. Nicole nodded along.</p><p>“Her subconscious must be incredibly advanced. Probably a quick study as a side effect. Smart kid. But we all run out of neuroplasticity at some point. Only a matter of time before she gets tired of fighting, and that data lights every witch on the East Coast up like a birthday candle.”</p><p>“How much data is in her head? How did it get in there?”</p><p>“How it got in there is a mystery to me.” Stheno shook her head. “Of course, I could probably do it, recreate that kind of experiment, but I’m nowhere near sick enough to do that to a little girl. How much? Even if you took all the computer capacity available on this planet, then triple it, it couldn’t hold the data in her head. Magic is just the language of the universe, pure imaginary numbers that we use to fix probabilities, transfer the imaginary into reality, and bend the rules of the universe just enough until we get what we want. Magic is math that has yet to be discovered by humans. And enough of is is locked away in her head, inaccessible to her or others, burning away at her neurons, to teach an entire curriculum on magic. She's experiencing brain death at a rate like she’s casting spells every waking moment of her life….she’s happy now, but when she’s a teenager, she’ll start having nosebleeds and narcolepsy. In her twenties, she’ll wake up with concussions and have a constant migraine. She’ll fall into regular comas if she’s still fighting it by her mid-twenties, and by her thirtieth, if she makes it that far, she will face total brain death and the worst will happen – that data in her brain spills onto the pathways between all practicing witches. The connections we sense each other with become a death trap that shocks everyone with pure sensory overload. She's happy, bright, and energetic now but...are you really prepared to watch her slowly get more and more tired? To slow down as knowledge she can't access slowly eats away at her, as she sleeps longer than she's awake, when she becomes depressed, despondent, wondering why this is happening to her? Are you prepared to watch that happen to your bring and happy little girl, for her to turn into a whirlpool of suffering? She needs to be taken and…dealt with, in a humane manner. It's better for her, and for you that way. I’m sorry, Jane.” Stheno clasps her hands together.</p><p>Jane sits in stunned silence, sitting back in the couch, looking up at the ceiling as if it would make the tears stay in her eyes. Nicole drunkenly pawed her shoulder.</p><p>“Oh don’t cry, Jane. If you cry, I'll start crying. Stheno says it’s for the best…I mean, I want her to be happy, and live a normal life, I do, but….” Nicole screwed her eyes shut, biting her lip. “Fuck…she deserves it though. Stheno, she deserves it!”</p><p>“Nicole. Fighting my spell for that little girl’s life is one of the most admirable things I’ve seen you do, but…there’s thousands of lives at stake, as well as the exposure of our entire society. This world would become useless to the witches, and we’d have to leave to avoid another inquisition.”</p><p>Jane pulled the Ka-Bar knife from her back pocket, wiping her eyes on her arm before drawing it, spinning it in her hand.</p><p>“Stheno…you leave me no other option. If you are committed to killing my daughter, my Sunny, then I’ll be forced to stop you.” She brandished the knife. Nicole grabbed Jane’s wrist as Stheno cackled.</p><p>“Jane, drop it. Don’t make me hurt you.” Nicole said. Her voice wasn’t threatening, but it was the same cold tone she’d heard when she promised Carmen she’d kill her a month ago. Jane grit her teeth.</p><p>“Nicole, I have to do this. Don’t make <em>me</em> hurt <em>you</em>.” Jane looked <em>through</em> Nicole, and saw a faint glimmer of fear behind her expressive brown eyes.</p><p>“Nicky, let her go. Jane, put that adorable little toy away, you lovable scamp. Don’t worry, I don’t intend to hurt Sunny.”</p><p>Nicole retreated and Jane relaxed slightly, placing the knife back in its sheath.</p><p>“You wanna expand on that, Stheno?” Jane hissed, with Nicole shooting her another pointed look.</p><p>“Remind me not to piss you off again, mama bear. You know you have scary eyes when your pupils go all small like that? Like little silver moons, lifeless and cold. Serial killer vibes.” Stheno said, feigning a shiver of fear.</p><p>“Yeah, I’ve heard that all before. Get to the point, though.” Jane growled. Another pointed look from Nicole. She took it in stride. <em>‘This isn’t the real Nicole. She’s just an illusion, the reflection of a horny witch with a dumb charm on her.’</em> She said to herself. She didn’t like how angry Nicole looked.</p><p>“I give Sunny ten more years before she starts losing the battle in her brain. She’ll be what, eighteen by then? Nicole can give her her full ‘normal childhood’ by then and not lose any sleep over it. If the girl's lucky, the only side effects by then will be minor brain bleed, chronic pain, sleep paralysis and narcolepsy. If she's lucky.”</p><p>“<em>Not good enough, Stheno</em>. I’m not selling my daughter out for ten years.”</p><p>“Hooold your horses there cowgirl. These ten years aren’t just for her sake. They’re your chance to find our witness.” Stheno reached into her coat pocket, and pulled out a pair of aviator sunglasses. The frames were black plastic, but heavy duty. Stheno tossed them over, and Jane caught them deftly in one hand. “Read the inscription on the temple.”</p><p>Jane squinted. Even in normal light, she wasn’t great at reading, but the dim heat lamps made it even more difficult. “Made in Taiwan.” She read aloud. She could practically hear Stheno rolling her eyes.</p><p>“Not <em>that</em> inscription. The other temple, numnuts.”</p><p>“Oh.” Jane turned the shades over in her hand. “Uhh…Tom Tully. Is that a brand? Kind of a shitty name.”</p><p>“No you idiot, that’s the owner. Who puts a brand name on plastic shades?”</p><p>“Who puts their own name on plastic shades?”</p><p>Stheno paused. “Fair point. But more importantly, what self-respecting witch wears tacky plastic aviators?”</p><p>“A witch on a budget?” Jane asked.</p><p>“Or…” Stheno said with a grin. “A witch hunter. Our witness. Tom Tully. A witch hunter of little renown, I don’t actually know much more than the name. The name itself was hard enough to find. Apparently Tom has an impressive nineteen kills under his belt though; mostly low-level witches like yourself, but still a feat nonetheless. These glasses were found by Carmen outside of the cabin ruins in Outwood. Almost buried under snow, she nearly stepped on them when following tracks. Apparently there was so little magical trace about them she almost discounted them as trash.”</p><p>“So? The asshole must’ve died in the explosion.”</p><p>“You would think so, but only only one corpse was a human with a low enough magical potential to be Tom, and it was a neighbor. Tom survived the explosion. And seeing as Carmen didn’t find a trace besides those glasses, Tom also escaped Ohio, probably to continue his witch-hunting crusade. This, and the glasses’ proximity to the cabin, makes Tom Tully a likely witness to the events – a small enough presence to be unnoticed by the witch, who would have seen the events of that night, even if it was just through a window, it’s enough.”</p><p>“And how does the testimony of a witch-hunting zealot with a couple of screws loose help save Sunny’s brain from microwaving itself?”</p><p>“It doesn’t. Not directly, anyway. I need his eye. Or both. The whole head would be best. Anything that could have recorded the event. Even if he’s forgotten, his biology hasn’t. I have a guy, oh he’s an artist with recall magic. He can play an optic nerve like a violin. Tom Tully’s memories identify the witch for us, which will allow me to track them down and have them reverse the experiments on Sunny. Or, if we’re extra lucky, Tom will have seen the experiments for himself and will save us the trouble. Either way, only way to safely reverse what’s been done to Sunny is with knowledge on specifically <em>what’s</em> been done to her. You have ten years to find a witch-killer before his dangerous line of work gets him obliterated. In the meantime, I will extend my protection over Sunny. No competent witch on this planet will touch her, and Nicole will deal with the incompetent ones as they come. The rest, I leave to you two. Good luck, detectives!”</p><p>“So you want me to kill some guy I haven’t met?”</p><p>“To save your daughter? Yes.”</p><p>“Deal.” Jane said confidently. She grabbed her jacket. “We done? Nicole and I have a dinner date.”</p><p>“A dinner date? Nicole, there may be hope for you yet.” Nicole, who had been brooding lethargically against the arm of the couch, perked up.</p><p>“Well let’s get going then! Always a pleasure, Stheno. We’ll grab lunch sometime.” She said, straightening her jacket and hooking her arm around Jane’s.</p><p>“Look after her, will you Jane? The come-down from the pheromones can be intense.” The serpentine woman chided.</p><p>Jane nodded, happy to be making physical contact with Nicole and even happier to be leaving Stheno behind. She began a sort of three-legged race with Nicole, half guiding her, half being dragged by her, towards the door. When they were finally out from behind it, Jane slammed it shut with a bit more force than she had intended. Nicole pushed herself away from Jane as soon as she could and staggered against the wall, doubled over, taking steady, shaky breaths.</p><p>“You uh…wanna talk about what happened in there?” Jane offered.</p><p>“No…I want to drink as much as I can to forget that ever happened. Find this asshole Tom, waste him, take an eye, find the asshole witch, have her un-ruin Sunny’s life, then waste her. Have I got all that?” Nicole gasped out between gritted teeth.</p><p>“Yep. Pretty much.”</p><p>“Cool. Let’s get it over with so we never have to talk to that bitch again.”</p><p>“You almost made out with me because you thought it would get her jollies off. Doesn’t seem like you thought of her as a bitch in there.”</p><p>“Don’t fucking tease me right now Jane. Not in the mood. That wasn’t me, it was…her lust, in my head. Every moment I was under that spell my brain was screaming. I’m so embarrassed I don’t even want to look at your smug face right now.”</p><p>“I won’t judge you. I get it, and I don’t trust anyone who uses that kinda magic.” Jane pointed up at her cheeks. “It’s probably why I got these.”</p><p>“Yeah…higher witches like me tend to pride ourselves on our lack of ward tattoos but…maybe they’re a good investment when we’re dealing with someone like Stheno. You actually really pulled through. Thanks for that.”</p><p>“No problem, Nicole. And don’t worry, you getting drunk on that titless bitch’s perfume is a secret that stays with me. We can kill Carmen together too. No witnesses.”</p><p>Nicole laughed. “Killing Carmen? Sounds like a fun night. First though, let’s get drunk on pasta and martinis at Neil’s. Wash the taste of Stheno out of my throat.”</p><p>“Gross.”</p><p>“Not what I meant, you perv.” Nicole punched Jane on the shoulder as they began to walk down the dark hallway. “The hell did you get that knife, Rambo?”</p><p>“Who?”</p><p>“Ah, haven’t gotten to that on the list either. Answer the question, though.”</p><p>“Lifted it off of Liam while he wasn’t looking.” Jane pulled it out of her pocket and tossed it in the air, catching it, and tossing it again as they walked down the hallway.</p><p>“You’re sly for a big girl, you know that? First you stay cool during the meeting, now you’re shoplifting? You can be slick when you’re not being a big passionate idiot.”</p><p>“Thanks.” Jane said. “Although I do prefer being a big passionate idiot. Not as good at speeches as you, but I’m learning.”</p><p>“Hey.” Nicole’s smile had frozen on her face.</p><p>“Yeah?”</p><p>“I know you were doing it for Sunny, but when you threatened me in there? It scared the fuck outta me. Promise you won’t do that again? At least, not to me? You looked crazy…now I get why Liam was scared shitless.”</p><p>“Sorry. Sunny’s my crazy button. I get that mama bear adrenaline, and I…I feel like I’m willing to kill for her, you know?”</p><p>“I get it. But Liam didn’t threaten Sunny.” Nicole said. “You were defending my honor.”</p><p>“Yeah. Got carried away. It won’t happen again. Sorry.”</p><p>“You said you love me?” Nicole continued.</p><p>Jane caught the knife again and stopped.</p><p>“Sorry.”</p><p>“No, Jane. I’m sorry. You deserve someone way better than me, trust me.” Nicole’s eyes were cast downwards.</p><p>“I don’t know how you could say that. But yeah. It’s more than just a crush. You saved us. More than once, you’ve saved us. How could I not love you?”</p><p>“I’m a selfish person, Jane. I saw an opportunity to keep a piece on the board, and I took it.”</p><p>“You’re a shitty liar. You’re a good person and you did the right thing.”</p><p>“Then how am I special? Why do you love someone just for doing the right thing?”</p><p>Jane shrugged. “Why do I love Sunny? I don’t recognize her. She doesn’t look like me, she's lucky enough to take after her dad I guess. If not for her coming to me that night, I would have gone on my whole life without knowing about her. Without knowing what joy she brings me. I’d be incomplete, even though I wouldn’t notice how incomplete I was without her.”</p><p>“If you’re about to say ‘you complete me’, I’m going to barf.”</p><p>“It’s not that I’m incomplete without you. Just…you make me smile. You let me eat your food. You help me raise my kid. You saved our lives. It’s simple, really.” Jane put her hands in her pockets. “You’re a good, nice person. You’re super smart, kind, fun, good with kids, and like, insanely hot. I makes my brain do for you what yours did for Stheno under her spell. I’m drunkenly in love with you.”</p><p>“That sucks for so many reasons. C’mon. You can love me how you do, I can love you like I do, and eventually, it’ll just simmer out to two gals being pals. Sound fair?”</p><p>“You love me?” Jane sounded incredulous.</p><p>“Yeah you dumbass. How could I not? You smile at me, you eat my food, you help raise my kid. I saved your lives. It’s simple, really.” Nicole put her arm around Jane. “You think I’m smart, kind, fun, and good with kids. You’re my best friend, Jane, and I’d rather raise our kids with you instead of some deadbeat failure of a man.”</p><p>Jane held back tears. “Friends?” She asked in a choked voice.</p><p>“Friends. You’ll find other women you’re into, and women who will be into you. Even old Stheno couldn’t resist your charms, you big handsome polar bear.”</p><p>“Not sure how I feel about being called a handsome polar bear, but I appreciate the sentiment.”</p><p>“The point is that you’ll get over me. Although I hope you never stop loving me, because I don’t intend to stop loving you back, dummy.” Nicole squeezed Jane’s midsection before letting go and pulling aside the beaded curtain into the pawn shop. Jane bent down to step through, with Nicole following out from behind.</p><p>“See you around, Pak-Man!” She called out, flipping Liam off as she stepped towards the door of the pawn shop.</p><p>“Oy! You tell Snow White to leave that Ka-Bar knife she nicked!” Liam shouted from behind the counter.</p><p>“Tell her yourself asswipe!” Nicole shouted, exiting the shop. Jane set down the knife on one of the shelves.</p><p>“Sorry about that Liam, forgot I had it on me. No hard feelings?” Jane called towards the counter.</p><p>“Go fuck yerself!” Was the reply. Jane smiled and exited, joining Nicole in the car.</p><p>“Sorry, but apparently you’re not as slick as you thought. Liam’s pretty good at keeping his goods from getting swiped.” Nicole said, buckling in.</p><p>“I wouldn’t be so sure about that.” Jane said, pulling the fake Rolex watch from her jacket pocket.</p><p>“Oho! Impressive, Madam Doe.”</p><p>Jane offered the aviators to Nicole. “Here. Our little bit of evidence. Can we crack this case in ten years?”</p><p>“I dunno. It’s not much to go on, but at least we have a name, a clue, and a shitload of time. You should keep the shades though, since your eyes are so sensitive to light.”</p><p>“Not to worry about that, Marquess Saint-Etienne.” Jane grinned, and pulled the circular shades she’d swiped from Liam, flicking them open and putting them on. “How do they look?”</p><p>“On anyone else? Like early nineties trash. But you make them work, somehow. Like the sleeveless turtleneck and high waisted riding pants.”</p><p>Jane put the scratched aviators up on the dashboard.</p><p>“Okay, you mentioned something about Italian food and alcohol?”</p><p>“Yes indeed.” Nicole said. “Something I think we could both use in massive quantity right about now.”</p><p>“Alright then, Number One. Engage!” Jane smiled as Nicole started the engine and pulled out of the strip mall parking lot.</p><p> </p><p> </p>
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